The Potters' Life
by blimey2310
Summary: The Potters' had never had an easy life. But what with spirits of the dead, traitorous friends, insane dark lords hell bent on murder and a senile headmaster with some hidden agenda; their life just became a lot more difficult or.. interesting. TIME TRAVEL (of sorts) and some minor Dumbledore bashing. Powerful Harry!
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Lily Potter was worried. No, she was worried during James's pranks, and _this _was not a prank. She was _frightened_. She had a feeling, a very bad feeling of impending doom. She didn't know why she was feeling so unhinged but she did know that the more she stayed with her little one and a half year old son, the more she felt anxious.

She sighed. "Why have _I _become so pessimistic? It never did anyone good to dwell on unfounded fears and feelings.. I think I need to get a break from this". Thinking thus she kissed her sleeping son and went downstairs to the living room, reflecting on the changes in her life since the past year.

She had joined the Order, a group started by Dumbledore to fight against Voldemort's ever increasing hold on their world, with her husband James to fight for what they felt was right. Shortly after that she had become pregnant with Harry. Co-incidentally, her best friend Alice Thompson, now Longbottom, had also become pregnant at almost the same time and both had been expecting around the end of July. Then suddenly Dumbledore had come to them saying that they were in danger and they had to move. He ordered them to reside in one of the Potter properties at Godric's Hollow under a Fidelius Charm to stay safe. What Lily didn't understand was that since this is a war, thus everybody is in danger. So why _they _had to specially go into hiding? No they were not alone, the Longbottoms- Frank and Alice, having had a son at the end of July, were also in hiding. Lily didn't understand why Dumbledore was asking them to go into hiding, but all she knew was that she did not like it one bit, since Dumbledore had never even given them any reason. Then regarding the secret keeper. They had decided to use Sirius as they had always intended, but then suddenly Dumbledore came to them saying that it would be better to have Sirius as a decoy and Peter as the actual secret keeper. Though she could intellectually understand his reasons for doing so (what they had been told anyway) she still like that and also she was unnerved by the way Dumbledore took an almost unhealthy interest in their and the Longbottom's lives. She had told about her fears to James and even though he ahd listened to her patiently, he had sensibly pointed out that there was nothing they could do and after all she had always had a tendency of overthinking things.

Thus Lily mused and came down to the living room and sat down on the couch. James was out on some work for the Order, or so Dumbledore had told them.

"Again with the hypocrisy. First he told us to go into hiding and then he asks James to come with him for some work in the order? Why? Why is Dumbledore taking such an interest in our lives?" Lily groaned aloud. 'Oh Gods, I am again over analyzing things and trying to find hidden connections when there aren't any."

Suddenly she heard a misty voice say "It was always a good habit of yours, my dear."

Lily shrieked and jumped up. She pulled out her wand and aimed it at the ceiling. "Who's it? Come out! I said, come and show yourself coward!"

"Tut, tut. Show some respect for your elders." this time a male voice said.

Lily was enraged "Oh so there are two of you are there? Still can't show your cowardly face? Come out or I will hex your bits off."

"And how, pray tell, will you hex someone's bits when you can't even see that person?" a mocking male voice said.

"I.. I will.." Lily spluttered.

"Oh hush, child. It never do anyone any good to be hasty. Now are you going to ask us nicely who we are so that we can reveal ourselves to you?" a motherly voice chastised her this time.

Lily decided that though this was odd it didn't seem that dangerous, for what kind of Death Eater would have a motherly voice? She thought it was more likely a prank set up by James and the rest of the Marauders. So she decided to humour them, whoever they might be. "Oh I am terribly sorry Your Majesties, I forgot my place. What can I -an oh-so-lowly mortal do for you? Would you possibly care for tea, My Lords and Ladies?" she finished her sarcastic recital with a flourish and a bow.

She half expected someone to start clapping, but what she didn't expect was the mocking male voice to say "Well its hard to stay for tea when you are dead, isn't it?" Lily snapped her head to the side, to see an extremely odd sight.

An old man with black hair and black beard and extremely outdated emerald green clothes was reclining on the sofa. But what was amazing was that he did not seem entirely solid, nor did he seem silvery and transparent like a ghost.

Lily gaped at him.

"Wh- who are you?" she stuttered.

"Perhaps we all should answer that together." said a voice from behind.

She turned around to see another old man with reddish - brown long hair and a tall hat very much like the Sorting Hat perched upon his head, a sword hanging from his belt and he too was wearing outdated clothes of a brilliant red. Along with him were two women both extremely beautiful. One had a kindly, motherly face almost like Madam Pomfrey (the matron of Hogwarts). She had blonde hair that were tied up in a bun at the top of her head she too wore outdated clothes, a sun yellow robe. Lastly was a regal looking lady wearing a beautiful tiara and she was wearing a beautiful but long outdated blue robe.

Lily's mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish. "B-but.. I..I d-don't.." she stammered.

The lady in the blue robe smiled. "Listen my dear. You are a logical thinker are you not? Then why don't you try and piece together our identity from what information you can gather about us?"

The man in the green clothes grumbled, "Knowledge for knowledge's sake my arse! We'll be here all night! I say we just tell her and be done with it."

The man in red robes glared at him and said, "Nobody asked your opinion. So why don't you shut up?"

The green robed man promptly did just that after saying "Humph" for the sake of appearances.

Lily was looking bewildered by this exchange. Seeing that the yellow robed lady said kindly," Well lass what're yeh waiting for? Go on guess our identities!"

Lily started and then nodded. She observed the 'visitors' carefully. "That hat.. I have seen it before.. looks a lot like the Sorting Hat.. Your tiara.. and there's the talk of a diadem being lost... ''Knowledge for knowledge's' sake'' is the motto for Ravenclaw I think.. You are wearing odd clothes, as if from an ancient time, you are wearing red, yellow, blue and green - the colours of the houses..." Her eyes widened at the obvious conclusion. "No.. no it can't be.."

At this the blue robed lady smiled and prompted her, "Yes, we are?"

Lily breathed," The Founders!"


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Lily breathed," The Founders!"

The blue robed lady, 'Rowena Ravenclaw', she corrected herself in her mind; nodded approvingly. 'Helga Hufflepuff' clapped. 'Godric Gryffindor' smiled while 'Salazar Slytherin' only harrumphed and said, "Finally!"

At this Ravenclaw rounded at him and snapped "Salazar! Enough with the rudeness! The girl was able to solve this puzzle much more earlier than the others." Slytherin had the decency to look abashed and he even seemed a little spooked.

"Yes dear." He intoned.

At his sheep like response Hufflepuff chuckled and Gryffindor looked as if he sympathised with Slytherin. All this time Lily was gaping at them.

She couldn't believe that this was possible. The Founders, whose works she would do anything to read, were standing in her home! Well not standing exactly, but whatever.

Suddenly Ravenclaw looked at her and asked with a smile, "Something on your mind dear?"

Lily gasped, "H- how?"

At this Gryffindor grinned and said with a cheeky wink, "Magic!" It was astonishing how much he looked like her husband at the moment.

Ravenclaw smiled at her, "Yes he does look a lot like your husband. However.."

She wasn't able to continue though since Lily cut her off sharply, "How do you know what I was thinking? Are you reading my mind? Are you legilimensing me?"

She was hysterical as she was a very honourable witch and nothing in her opinion was as bad as invading someone's privacy without their consent. To think that someone of Ravenclaw's stature would do something like that was incomprehensible to her.

Ravenclaw replied, "No, no. I was not legilimensing you. I have empathic ability. Yes I know that you know about only one kind of empaths, those that are able to heal with a touch. And you know that they are quite rare and so you tend to disagree. However there are two kinds of empaths; one that can heal with a touch and another that can sense someone's feelings. It is very very rare to have someone with both the abilities. Usually though a healer empath would be able to sense strong feelings from someone when they are at a very emotional or confused state simply because of their overwhelming need to help people. And I am a healer empath but I could sense your feelings since you both very overwhelmed and confused right now. And as I was saying, it is quite reasonable for James to look like Gryffindor since he is his heir."

Lily said confused, "Heir?"

At this Hufflepuff said seemingly confused, "Yes! Didn't you know that?"

"Err, no."

"Hmm.. so that means that you don't know about your bloodlines as well, huh?"

"Err.." Lily stuttered.

Gryffindor suddenly said," You know we should tell her that, after all we did come here to accomplish something."

At this Slytherin hummed and said, "Oh yes, we should start after all there is not much time considering we do not yet know if our ruse to get him out of the way worked.."

Gryffindor agreed, "Exactly."

Then both of them looked horrified that they had agreed upon something with each other. At this Lily smiled, Ravenclaw rolled her misty blue eyes and Hufflepuff chuckled.

"Right so lets get started, shall we?" said Ravenclaw. She seemed to be a sort of leader of the four of them.

Lily thought that as the host it was her duty to offer them... something.. because she did not feel confident that they would like tea, with them being in their ethereal states or whatever it was. This thought reminded her that she simply had to know how they were doing this for they did not look like ghosts nor were they solid enough to count as living.

"Erm, Lady Ravenclaw, Lady Hufflepuff, Lord Gryff..."

"Oh do cut short my dear, call us by our first names." chastised Hufflepuff.

"Err, okay. Then Rowena, Helga, Godric and Salazar, could I possibly offer you something?"

Rowena shook her head though Godric said "Oh yes please, some chamomile tea." The others stared at him.

"Godric you do know that we can_not_ drink in this form?" Salazar asked cautiously.

Godric looked annoyed, "Of course I do! What do you take me for?"

Salazar hissed something under his breath.

Godric narrowed his eyes. "Could you repeat that?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Salazar's eyes widened a little but he just cleared his throat and motioned for him to continue.

Godric still seemed a little mad but he continued nevertheless. "So, as I was saying before _someone_ so rudely interrupted me, I know that we cannot drink tea but I can smell it, can't I? And so I can imagine myself to be drinking can't I?"

Still the other Founders stared at him.

"What?" he asked this time a little irritably. Lily cleared her throat. "Yes Godric, chamomile tea. It will take a little more than five minutes."

She went into the kitchen to prepare the tea, the muggle way as she needed her hands to do something, as well as to sort out her thoughts. She was extremely confused and half believed this to be some sort of weird dream. "But why would I dream about the Founders?" she muttered aloud as she prepared the tea for Godric and herself, though Merlin knew she needed something stronger than tea right now.

As she finished preparing the tea and went out to the living room, she was greeted by a sight belonging in dreams or Scrooge's living room probably. Four ghosts-but-not-ghosts, were sitting in her chairs and sofas. She blinked but then looked for her Gryffindor courage and steeling herself entered the room. She kept Godric's cup of tea in front of him and took her own in her hands.

She asked, "Erm excuse me, but could you please satisfy my curiosity regarding your presence? Er, I mean what are you? I don't mean to be rude, I am so sorry, I..."

Before she could continue to ramble, Rowena cut her off with a small laugh and said, "Its ok dear. We are... spirits.. for lack of a better word, - projections of our living counterparts. We are essentially dead but in the spirit realm, the place where the souls of the worthy go, though there are conditions. If your life was pure enough and you swear to abide by the 'Rules Of The Dead', you can appear in the living world in case of dire and deadly emergencies between family members or to warn about some approaching disaster that could effectively end the world. We are here for actually both the reasons."

Lily looked confused and said, " The end of the world? How can the world end? And what's that got to do with me?"

Gryffindor took a deep breath and said, "Yes the end of the world. This world is only temporary my dear and it'll end sooner than you might think. There are many factors here that can potentially be the reason the world ends. Ho.."

Rowena interrupted, "Godric before you tell her about the end I think we should at least explain how we know all this."

Godric agreed, "Right you are."

Rowena started, "In the 'Realm Of The Dead' or the spirit world, there is a provision of a kind of a television, an alternate reality watcher actually. It is a kind of a huge crystal globe that shows realities that have been in the past or may be in the future..."

Lily interrupted, "Realities that may have been in the past or may be in the future? What does that mean? Surely we live in the present only?"

Rowena smiled. "No my dear. The past, present and future is not a forward flowing stream as imagined by most. Yes it is most optimum to let it flow the way it wants to but that is not what happens always. Surely you know about a time turner?"

Lily nodded, "I have used one."

Rowena gave a nod. "Right so you surely know that only the person who is going back in time knows about it, the reversal of time? That is the same way that the time stream works. So if somebody is deliberately reversing time only they will know about it. But in the spirit world, time does not matter. We can see different alternate realities, possible futures and as I said different pasts. Unlike the past, future is not set in stone and can and will be changed if a different course of events takes place than the earlier past. So we, the spirits have an allowance - we can reverse time under special conditions. So right now we have come to the past you can say, that we chose. We saw the past in which we had not interfered and it was not a happy place for specific people. The end of life for the person whom we wish to help was not good too. So we have come to a past to change things for the better."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Time Travel? Spirits? Lily's mind was whirling. What the hell is happening? This is stranger than a dream! The Founders were still waiting for a response from her. She just gaped at them, utterly bewildered.

At last Slytherin asked, "Well? Not got any queries?"

Lily started and she asked, "What kind of future do I have? What about Harry? What is the chain of events leading to the end of the world? Wh.."

Helga chuckled and stopped her, "Hold on my dear! One question at a time please. Now as to your first question, I am sorry but you do not have a future at the moment."

Lily stared. "N-not have a future? I am going to d-d-die? When? H-How?" Helga smiled sadly.

Gryffindor cleared his throat. "In the last timeline you died tomorrow - that is Halloween."

Lily swallowed. She had never particularly been afraid of death, but now she had a bad feeling that whatever event had taken her life had proved terrible for Harry. She was feeling afraid, not of death for herself, but for Harry. She inquired trembling, "Wh- what about Harry? And James?"

Before anybody could answer, the doorbell rang. (Lily unlike many wizards was proud of her muggle heritage and so she wanted some muggle appliances in her home. James who doted on her agreed and even he couldn't deny their usefulness.)

Lily immediately ran to the door to find out who was it. She waved her wand and then lowered the wards that they had erected to keep intruders out. The doorbell didn't interfere with the wards, rather alerted everyone inside. (Whenever someone keyed entered the wards, it would ring.) She opened the door and to her immense relief found a healthy James, she was afraid that James might be injured or worse - dead, since a war was going on.

"James! Oh thank God you are okay! I was so worried about you. Come in immediately, its cold outside." she babbled.

James laughed, though he was a bit concerned. It wasn't like Lily to babble. Something must have shaken her up and that something must have been quite serious, since Lily was a the most level-headed girl he had ever met. "I am fine, Lilykins. What happened? You are hyper today."

Lily relaxed a little at his loving nickname but was still tense. She turned towards the Founders and then introduced James to them. "James see, these are the Founders."

James looked at her in confusion as if he couldn't see them.

Helga smiled and said, "You should introduce us one at a time dear."

Lily said, "See this is Helga Hufflepuff and.." Suddenly James yelped and fell off his chair. Lily frowned. It seemed to her as if he could only now see them.

James stammered, "Helga Hufflepuff? Th-the founder of Hufflepuff House?" She just smiled mysteriously.

Suddenly the others indicated that she introduce them too.

Lily shrugged and said, "And James? These are Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin."

She noticed how James eyes widened at the mention of the first two but he squeaked at Slytherin.

James reacted the only way he could - his eyes rolled up his head and he fainted.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

James' eyes rolled up in his head and he fainted.

Lily shrieked "James!"

Helga said, "Don't worry. He's just shocked."

Godric said to Slytherin "Bet you ten that when he wakes up he thinks he is sleeping."

Slytherin huffed, "Well I think he'd have lost his memory.." Lily gave a frightened squeak at that.

Slytherin looked at her and said, "Well that's what happened to the other one we visited you know.." Lily looked about to faint.

Rowena said chidingly, "Stop it Salazar. You know the reason pretty well. He was an Obliviator by profession and that's why it happened. His magic sensing his distress or trauma worked the way it was most used - obliviated any semblance of reasoning from the poor chap."

Godric frowned. "I don't think I would refer our arrival as 'traumatizing' my dear.. It doesn't have a good ring to it. Maybe the fella was of a weak heart? Yeah that's better." He nodded as if reassuring himself.

Salazar hissed something, Rowena and Helga both rolled their eyes.

Then Slytherin glanced at Lily, some colour coming back to her face and then at the sleeping figure of James slumped in his chair. He sighed. "You'd better revive him Lily. We haven't got all day."

Lily nodded and said "Ennervate!". James stirred and held his head.

Then he blinked up at Lily and gave a wobbly smile, "I just had a most weird dream Lils. I dreamt that you were introducing me to the founders! Imagine that! The Founders!" He laughed.

Lily sighed, pointed behind James where their guests were currently reclining on the couches (and Slytherin was offering some ethereal galleons to an ecstatic looking Gryffindor) and said "James you are _not_ dreaming. Yes a while ago I did introduce you to the Founders for they are right at this moment in our room standing or drifting or whatever it is that spirits do."

James slowly turned his head and saw them. He looked at each of them in turn and when he came to Slytherin he turned ashen.

Lily frowned. "James why do you turn pale on seeing Slytherin? He isn't _that _intimidating."

Slytherin said indignantly, "Hey! I object to that! I am _very _intimidating, I'll have you know. So much so that students trembled in front of me!" he finished quite proudly.

Gryffindor snorted. "Yeah then they'd wet their pants or start sniffling and your heart would melt and you'd start giving out chocolates."

At this James regained the use of his voice for the first time. "You gave out chocolate to kids?" he asked quite eagerly. Lily rolled her eyes.

Slytherin looked scandalized. "No I absolutely did not. Gave pepper and salt chocolate to kids having wide, frightened faces and gave special chocolates with an itching or peeing potion in it to the ones who wet themselves. Needed to have a firm hand on them, didn't I?"

Lily seemed a little indignant on behalf of the students but James seemed to shake. "Wh-what are you going to do to me?" Lily looked at him in confusion. The Founders stared.

He clarified, "I - I used to play pranks on your house a lot."

The others stared at him except for Slytherin who nodded his head. "Oh don't be worried about that! Most of the idiots of my house deserved it. Ruined my name to dust, they've! I mean really, following that idiotic fool who calls himself my heir? Doesn't even know how to intimidate properly that fool.."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Are you by any chance telling us that Voldemort does not know how to intimidate properly?"  
Slytherin grunted. "Of course! Needs the help of a few measly crucio's and avada's to keep his minions in line! I mean look at me. James here got close to pissing his pants just by my presence which is not even real! Ju..."

Gryffindor interrupted indignantly. "What? We are not real? You mean to say that we are figments of their imagination? I refuse to be a figment of imagination! I really liked the chamomile tea!" he pouted.

All of them stared at him. After a moment though all of them except for James started rolling their eyes. James was still staring. Lily noticed this and decided that James needed to know all about her upcoming death and time travel and spirit world and all that.

She cleared her throat. "So, er, should we enlighten James as to the reason for your visit?" All the founders nodded.

"Right then James, first things first. These are the spirits of the Founders from the 'Realm of the Dead'. And they have seen the future and also alternate futures or alternate dimensions as it is called, and they didn't like it, the future I mean, and so they decided to change time."

James stared. He blinked once. Then stared some more. Then he shook his head violently as if something was lodged in it and he was removing it. Then he said, "Could you repeat that please? I think something was stuck was stuck in my ear. I thought you said changing time! Fancy that!" he chuckled.

Lily said, "I am pretty sure I said changing time."

James' chuckle died abruptly. He looked incredulous. "You surely don't mean that? How is that possible? Even with a time turner, you are not _supposed_ to change time!"

Lily said, "It is James. They are spirits and as they told me they have the power to change time and therefore destiny if and only if there are dire problems threatening to end their line or end the world. So according to them some problem is haunting our world which can end the world. All clear?"

James nodded thoughtfully. He said, "So Voldemort can end the world?"

At this Rowena tutted. She started in the 'lecture tone', "Pre assuming tings will get you nowhere. If you try to presume things, the logic states.."

Godric cleared his throat. Rowena started. She blushed.

"Uh yes, so no, Voldemort is not the one ending the world. Its going to be your son, Harry Potter."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"Harry?" James and Lily stared at Rowena.

"How can a little child end the world? Please don't say that he becomes a dark lord because I am pretty sure me and Lily would never have brought up our child that way." James said.

At that Lily looked uncomfortable.

Helga said cryptically, "And what if you did not raise your son?"

"Huh? What nonsense! If we don't raise our son, who is going to raise him? Lily's hag of a sister?" James asked incredulously.

Godric gave a sort of sad smile and said, "Exactly."

James spluttered. Lily decided it was time she told him the truth. "James, I.. I ..am er, goingtodietomorrow."

James looked at her in confusion. "Could you repeat that, slowly this time?"

Lily took a deep breath and said, "I said that I am going to die tomorrow."

James stared at her horrorstruck. "NO! You.. you are joking. You have to be joking. I-I won't be able to live without you Lily. I would rather die than live without you.. This this cannot be true.. I can't lose you!"

Lily choked back a sob. She didn't want to die either. But it seemed that Fate had different ideas. She was just thinking that probably she had gotten the better end of the deal than James (for she didn't think she could bear to live without James, but in the world of the dead, she would at least have her parents), when suddenly Helga interrupted.

"Did we say that you are going to die tomorrow?"

"Godric did say that." Lily said confused.

Godric said, "I didn't say that! I said that you died tomorrow in the past, or if you prefer in the other timeline. You forgot that we have come here to change the past."

Lily looked stunned. It wasn't clear as to what was she more stunned about, learning that she was not going to be dying tomorrow after all or knowing that for once she had forgotten something.

James looked as if Christmas had come early. He whooped boyishly. Godric grinned and whooped too which seemed weird since his voice was deeper than James's and combined with the effect of being ethereal, it echoed horribly and sounded like an off tune trumpet.

Everyone covered their ears, Godric included.

"What was that?" he asked bewildered. Everyone thought it prudent to ignore him. He pouted.

"Moving on to more serious matters than horrible singers, I am glad to say that yes Lily you are indeed not going to die tomorrow since that would make our coming here a waste." Rowena said.

"Yes, we'll have to make sure that you don't die or we will have to go again back in time and then repeat ourselves to you and I will have to go through with the dangerous and annoyed act which annoys me enormously.."

"Hold on! That was an act?" James yelled. Lily shushed him.

Slytherin continued after a dirty look at James. "...And when I get annoyed, I annoy Godric and when he gets annoyed he gets cranky and then we have to listen to him whine and pout constantly and then Rowena gets annoyed and she scolds us, something which annoys Helga. So it would be better if you remain alive for the Greater Good." Salazar said.

Lily swallowed. "How - how did I die last time?" James frowned. "Lils, I don't think that is something that is worth knowing about."

But Rowena shook her head. "No, you need to know what happened to prepare for the upcoming peril. This is going to take some time. You had better bring little Harry down here with you as he is alone above right now." Lily nodded and went upstairs.

James said, "Well we had better make ourselves comfortable. Er - are you going to sit?"

Helga smiled, "Of course, if you want us to. It actually doesn't matter to us." James nodded uncomfortably. Then Lily came down with Harry snuggled in her arms contentedly.

Rowena cleared her throat.

"You didn't need to do that. It sounded horrible." Godric observed cringing. She glared at him. Helga stifled a snicker. Salazar looked smug.

Rowena looked pointedly away from Godric. She said, "Right so lets start the story. James and Lily in the last timeline you both died on the 31st of October, 1981 on Halloween. Vo.."

James cried, "But that's tomorrow! What're we gonna do?"

Rowena huffed, "Honestly if you'd just let me complete my story you will know all the details." James looked sheepish. He waved his hand indicating to continue.

Rowena started again, "Right so you died on Halloween. Voldemort himself came to your house when you three were in the sitting room playing with Harry. Pettigrew had already given him the secret. He apparated to the front door and then for effect broke down the front door and barged in. James tried to hold him off while he said to Lily to take Harry and run. But he could not stand against him and after one Killing Curse he was dead. Lily went to the nursery and kept Harry in the crib when Voldemort came in ordered Lily to stand aside. She refused and then Voldemort killed her and then attempted the curse on Harry. But the curse bounced off of Harry and struck him instead. He was rendered a wraith and torn from his body. Then minutes later Dumbledore came in saw the damage and the bodies and then apparated away. After 5 minutes Sirus came on his motorcycle and at the same time Hagrid came in. Sirius tried to take Harry from Hagrid but the half giant refused saying they had been Dumbledore's orders.."

Suddenly Godric interrupted "Rowena I think it would be better if they see the memory."

Helga cried, "Better? How can it be better? Lily is looking faint now only. Do you think she'd be able to handle it?"

Salazar said, "As much as I hate to say this, I agree with Godric. They need to see for themselves what happened and only then can they understand what's really at stake."

Rowena looked pensive. "I do think that it might be too much for Lily specially... But yes, seeing it would be the only way to actually relay everything - everything that cannot be put into words.."

Lily swallowed. It was hard enough hearing about her death now she had to see it too. "Can we please not see the memory? I don't think I can handle it." she pleaded.

Everyone looked at her sympathetically.

But Salazar said, "Lily, I know it is difficult but you should understand that to get through this war you need to be tough and need to have the ability to stomach a few deaths. Tell me are you afraid of dying?"

Lily shook her head and said, "No I am not afraid of dying but I am afraid for Harry."

Helga smiled sadly, "A mother's love is the best protection one can have."

Salazar said, "So if you are not afraid of dying or of death then think of the person in the memory as somebody you don't know, or probably somebody you don't feel anything towards. It might be easier."

Lily looked unconvinced but nodded. James was quiet but looked determined. And little Harry.. he was asleep on his mother's shoulder unaware of the talks going around him.

The Founders share a glance and put their hands together and suddenly a white glow seemed to surround them. A second later the glow vanished to be replaced by a large white screen with a... PLAY button on it.

Everybody stared at it incredulously. Rowena whipped her head around. "Godric you wished for it didn't you?"

Godric smiled sheepishly, "I like muggles" was his feeble defence.

Helga sighed and pressed it. "We might as well use it now."

Everyone held their breath as the memory began to play.

To say that James and Lily were horrified was an understatement. They had seen their murders, experienced the pain of knowing that one of their best friends was a cowardly traitor, been shocked by the outburst of Harry and finally been confused by the apparent casualness and unsurprise exhibited by Dumbledore at seeing their bodies.

Lily was in tears and James in shock and Harry in dreamland.

**I am not including the memory of their deaths. It is present in "HP and the Deathly Hallows" owned by J.K. Rowling for anyone interested. This part is taken from canon as this is a time travel story kinda**


	6. Chapter 6

**CH6: BLOODLINES**

James composed himself first. "Wh- what do we do now? And yes you told us that if we do not live, Harry will end the world but you haven't really told us how and why? Why does our raising him matter so much? I mean its not like I really want to die, but what can we do? And how do we remain alive? I was no match for Voldemort. And its not like we can convert Worm.. _Pettigrew_ from his current path." he spat the last part venomously.

Helga smiled. "Dear your not being alive resulted in Harry going to a less than ideal home.."

Lily interrupted, "But we have made provisions in our wills for Harry to either go to the Longbottoms or Sirius in case anything happens to us. And they are perfect for him.."

Helga replied, "Lily dear, I am sorry to tell you but Dumbledore did not allow that to happen. You must have noticed the apparent casualness by which he viewed your bodies. Remember this as it will play an important part later when we disclose the truth about Dumbledore; just remember for now to be wary of the hypocritical old goat." James looked confused and indignant and Lily appeared thoughtful.

"As for the people that little Harry could go to, Sirius was thrown into Azkaban" James and Lily gasped "and the Longbottoms - Frank and Alice were tortured into insanity, a day after you 'deaths'".

At this Lily gave a cry of horror "No!"

"Where did Harry go then?" James asked trying to remain calm.

"The Dursleys." replied Salazar.

There was a moment of silence.

"What did you say?" James asked gritting his teeth. "Surely not Petunia and Vernon?"

Godric said, "The very same."

"But we specially wrote in our wills not to send Harry there, also we mentioned that if the Longbottoms or Sirius were not available then he was to go to either Professor McGonagall or the Tonkses - Andromeda is Sirius's cousin. Under no condition whatsoever was he to go to Petunia." Lily protested.

"We know that, but Dumbledore sealed your wills and no one was allowed to see them. It was only after Harry turned seventeen that he even got to know about his heritage and your wills. He also got to learn the truth about Dumbledore and his manipulations and how he had ruined his life by controlling him, and the resulting magical outburst was enough to destroy the whole world, well in a chain reaction actually - he got angry, his magic flared resulting in destruction of Gringotts and Diagon Alley, resulting in his persecution by the Ministry, resulting in another flare up leading to destruction of the Ministry and Central Britain leading to destruction of the muggle nuclear reactors resulting in an apocalypse and destroying the world." Godric said in a casual tone as if he was talking about the weather, not the end of the world.

Lily squeaked. James asked disbelievingly, "Magical outbursts that could destroy the whole of Diagon Alley? Exaggeration much, don't you think?"

Salazar replied, "Not really. Your son has an astonishing amount of magical power. But then its not really astonishing considering his family line."

"Family line? What's so special about the Potters and the Evanses?" James asked, seeing that Lily was a bit preoccupied with thinking.

"Ah, that's an interesting discussion, considering that you both know next to nothing about your family's magical history." Salazar said.

"What's to know about my family history? My parents were muggles." Lily asked confused.

Helga tutted. Rowena raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you sure that your parents were muggles Lily?"

"Well yes, they did not know about magic."

Helga sighed, "Your mother was a squib Lily."

Lily stared. "B-but she most definitely did _not_ know about magic! How could _she_ have been a squib?"

Godric replied, "Lily the Evanses have been squibs for generations. Since about, well, I think my great great great grandson's time.. Well anyways, there was some fight which was not at all pretty. A blood feud I think.. Your family lost and was cursed. It resulted in your family losing its magic. It was said that only after someone of your family who was pure enough to atone for the sins committed by your ancestors was born, would the curse break on your family... Almost all the muggleborn children are born from a family of squibs. These families squib out because of a large amount of interbreeding, or some curse. Sometimes entire families die out either because of not having a male heir or getting all members of the family killed without any children."

"Why can't women be considered heirs?" Lily asked feeling quite offended about the last part but pleased as well, since what Godric said meant that she was pure enough to redeem her family of the feud curse.

"Women are not considered heirs and that's just it. Its an ancient custom.. and well changing it would change the whole concept of the Ancient and Noble Houses, since well.. _they are ancient_. You see, earlier the society was a whole lot more partriachial than today. Few pure-blooded families follow the partriachial customs, but those who do could never follow it the ancient way; whatever they may claim, everyone changes the customs, they were too.. _barbaric_." Godric replied in a far away tone.

"Were you by any chance, the History of Magic professor during your time?" James asked interestedly.

Godric smiled, "It was History at the time. Always loved it.. You know it still should be History.. Don't you think so?"

"Huh?" Lily and James both looked at each other confused. Where had that come from? Godric Gryffindor seemed strange. Even though earlier he had seemed like a child, now.. now they weren't so sure. It was almost as if he was not all there.. or perhaps knew too much..

James shrugged. Lily also shook the weird feeling off. She decided to ask something relevant. "So, why did you want to tell us about our family history? Just so I could know about the prejudice faced by witches? Or there was something more?"

Godric scowled. "These are important facts of history young lady, what you are treating so casually.."

"Yes Godric, but we really need to hurry up and tell them about their bloodlines. So right, what do you know of heirs?" Rowena interrupted.

"Um, the person who is entitled to receive the position of the Lord of the House?" James said.

"Hm." Rowena did not look too happy with the explanation as neither did Godric.

But Helga smiled kindly and clarified, "James there are two kinds of heirs - legal and spiritual. Legal heirs are the ones who are the next in line to receive the property, money and family antiques and artefacts. There can be many legal heirs, depending on the number of offsprings who remain alive and part of the house. Even a woman would be able to receive the property and money if stated so in the will of the Lord, though she would not be able to receive the title. If she is the only one of the House left, then either the family will die out or if agreed previously by the last Lord and her husband, one of her offsprings can bear the title of the next Lord."

Lily asked interestedly, "So that means that Harry would have become the next Lord Evans, had my father mentioned so in his will?"

Salazar said, "No, Harry will become Lord Evans regardless of your father mentioning him in his will or not since your father thought he was a muggle and he did not or rather could not take up the Evans title. In case of a muggle family or rather a squibbed out family, the next male magical offspring gets the title. If there were two contenders, then its the elder one."

"What about twins?" James asked.

"Then also the elder one whatever the difference in their birth be. Or in some cases parents may decide, wizards of course; and in some even a duel decides the fate of the family line."

James looked thoughtful, but Lily asked, "But why are you telling us all this?"

Rowena nodded. "Right we actually wanted to make you aware about your status as our heirs."

Lily was confused. "You told me before also, something about James being Gryffindor's heir."

Godric smiled and nodded. "Yeah the Potters' have been my heirs. They are almost the only ones who can claim to have a legal relation to one of the most ancient families in England. Another one who can claim is the Lovegoods. Though the Potters' claim is stronger. Still, in the last timeline, my heiress, the little Luna Lovegood, somehow managed to get the family property and magic out of dormancy. Gave her a lot of trouble it did."

"Out of dormancy?" James questioned.

"Yeah, she managed to get my ethereal power.."

"You are an ethereal?" Lily asked in awe. Ethereals were considered to be myths since they were so rare - rarer than empaths even. Ethereals were people who could sense other places, sights and visions without actually being there - just by spreading their senses.

"Yeah.. My power. So um, yeah, er.. Yes, dormancy. If the family has not opened the vault or not used any property, since ages, the family line is considered dormant. Our family lines - us four, they were considered dormant since after a few generations, there were so many of our heirs, that our vaults sealed itself. Many people who claimed to be our heirs turned out to be frauds."

"But couldn't the goblins conduct the bloodline test? They do it whenever anyone goes to claim his title." James asked.

Godric replied, "For conducting the bloodline test, they need a sample of blood of yours. And you must have noticed that they do not show many families back, since they do not have blood samples of some of the earliest Lords and Ladies. Gringotts was just a fledgling idea of the goblins. So they do not have our blood samples, making it impossible for them to check for our heirs. And it would have been futile. There are so many who claim to be our heirs and many of them are even correct. The vaults would have been emptied."

"But you said that only the Potters have a legitimate claim onto your vaults?"

"Yes, but there is my blood in many prominent pureblood families today. All of the purebloods are related are you not? However distantly it may be." Godric clarified.

Suddenly Salazar spoke up disgruntledly, "Same is with me. My blood runs through the veins of the hypocritical murderer Riddle and that snivelling fool Malfoy. That means that Master and servant are related, though distantly - Riddle or Voldemort is my direct heir, and the Malfoys are by marriage. But they do not have any claim over my vault as it has sealed. Now not even Voldemort can reach my vault. Only my spiritual heirs can do so - the one who I give my power to."

"Spiritual Heirs.. I have read this term before, though there was not a lot of information on them." Lily said thoughtfully.

"You did?" Rowena sounded pleased. "That means you are a wonderful researcher my dear, since most have not even heard of the term before. All of our vaults sealed themselves to be opened by only the one who is recognised as our Spiritual Heir. A spiritual heir is one who is given the family magic. If the family magic was to go to all the heirs, then in a few generations there would be many of them and it may be used for evil purposes. So Ancient and Noble families used to designate spiritual heirs. But now the trend has almost faded into obscurity due to hassle of selecting someone pure enough to carry forward your legacy. Also the Spiritual Heir does not need to be of the same blood, and yet he would have a superior claim to a legal heir."

Helga said, "Now, to the heart of the matter. All this talk about heirs was to tell you about one very important fact - your son is our heir, all of us Founders' Spiritual Heir."

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed that, though I am not very happy with it. Also I probably will not update for a few weeks, exams are coming up. And thank you very much to all who have either followed or favourite or reviewed. **


	7. Chapter 7

**CH7: DISCUSSIONS AND DECISIONS**

"Harry is your Spiritual Heir? The Founders' Spiritual Heir! " Lily asked in awe.

"Yeah and that's the reason he had enough power to destroy the world." Helga said.

"Bloody Hell." James whispered.

Lily didn't even chastise him for his language. She looked preoccupied - her eyebrows were knitted and she was frowning.

"You still haven't told us how we can manage to stay alive. Oh and I have many other questions but you had better tell this first." Lily demanded.

Salazar sighed in relief. "Finally we come to the most important part. I thought you had almost forgotten about your impending deaths as Godric regaled you with his beloved history." He sneered.

Godric's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Salaza.."

"Shut up Godric and Salazar! I want to know how we will remain alive and I want to know that right NOW!" Lily snapped.

Everybody stared at her. Rowena looked approving, Helga was amused, Godric was indignant, Salazar was sheepish and James was shocked.

Everyone came out of their stupor when she tapped her foot impatiently.

Rowena shook her head and cleared her throat and Godric did not interrupt her this time.

"So, Lily we are, or specifically I am going to teach you a set of runes. They are considered dark magic, or rather would be considered dark had anyone remembered or known about it. I invented the incantation used to activate them and they work only if the incantation is spoken after the blood of the family member is pressed on the rune. It is a protection rune based on love - the love between a family. It will protect both of you from the Killing Curse when Voldemort comes to murder Harry, since I think none of you will leave him here alone?" Rowena looked inquiringly at them.

Lily raised an eyebrow and scowled, "Damn right we won't."

James couldn't even nod, he looked too spooked of Lily and her determinedness.

Rowena nodded satisfied, "Just thought I would ask. You need to draw the runes on your hands or wrists with preferably a Blood Quill. You will also need to inscribe the runes on Harry's crib and both of your blood should touch it and then you will speak the what will happen is that Voldemort will come and as you'd seen, he will kill you James first and then he will proceed to you Lily. But Lily remember, you will have to "die" in front of Harry's crib again, or the rune won't protect him, since the rune will activate only due to pure thoughts of protection and love. And James you'll fall in front of the stairs, just like last time. And then the rune would activate and Harry will remain protected and the curse would bounce towards Voldemort. You both would be unconscious since that is what the Protection Rune does, and you'll need a drop of Harry's blood to mix with yours for the unconsciousness to be lifted. You could maybe write a note for Sirius or send him a Patronus or do something to inform him about this so that he can put a drop of Harry's blood on your rune. "

Lily looked deep in thought and James just looked confused.

Suddenly Harry woke up. He said happily, "Mama! Dada!" And raised his arms to be picked up.

Lily's concentration vanished as she smiled lovingly at her little boy. James looked delighted.

"Harry! C'mon, come to daddy. Mummy will make you milk." James said.

Lily nodded and stood up as Harry said, "Milk! Milk!"

Suddenly a bottle of milk started floating towards the living room.

Lily and James stared. This was Harry's second accidental magic incident. They had considered the first one (he had turned his stag green) a one time incident.

Lily turned towards the Founders who were smiling proudly.

"Isn't Harry a little too young for starting accidental magic?"

"Hasn't he done it before twice or thrice?" Godric countered.

"Only once. But still..."

"What about that time when he turned into a dog?"

"That wasn't Harry, it was Sirius. He turned into his animagus form and tried to pretend it was Harry. He should have known it wouldn't work on me."

"Sirius would never try something like that. He was right, Harry had turned into a dog, just like Sirius. But when he shouted out, he turned back. He.."

Suddenly a baby's voice said, "Doggy. Pa'foot."

And there was pop and instead of Harry, a little brown-black puppy appeared on James' lap. James shouted and Lily shrieked. And on hearing their shouts, Harry appeared once again.

Lily shrieked again. Harry looked confused. He said, "Harry doggy. Turn Pa'foot."

James said, "Yes, Harry you turned into a doggy. Were you Padfoot?"

Harry beamed and nodded. James smiled. Suddenly he got an idea. Could Harry have control over his magic since he had obviously turned into a dog only when he had heard Lily and the Founders. Could he turn into anything or only a dog - meaning his animagus form was a dog?

James then looked at Harry and said, "Harry, could you turn into a stag like daddy?" He then turned into a stag and then changed back.

Lily looked at him as if he was mad. But Harry clapped his little hands delightfully and sprouted antlers and a little furry tail. Then suddenly there was a pop and instead of Harry a little faun was sitting on James. Then he turned back but with antlers. James was positively beaming. He laughed.

Harry looked at him almost quizzically. Then he looked at Lily. Lily was frowning.

"Mama? You boo-boo?" Harry asked miserably.

Lily's frown cleared and she smiled but her eyebrows were still knitted together. She shook her head. "I am fine Harry. Do you want to play with your stuffed stag Prongs?"

Harry clapped delightedly and said, "Prong'ie!"

Lily smiled and took him to the nursery.

Helga was smiling wistfully at Harry's retreating back. Rowena was also smiling slightly. Even Godric and Salazar looked softened by little Harry's innocence and sweetness.

James smiled. Suddenly he said, "Hey, Harry didn't comment on you at all. Why's that? Usually he is a very curious little guy."

Salazar said, "Babies have a tendency of correctly assessing the characters of many people whom they meet. It is because of he fact that they rely on their instincts rather than logic as we do when we grow up. They trust whoever their instincts tell them to trust. You must have noticed how Harry seems wary of Peter whenever he is near and wouldn't go into his lap and starts crying every time you give him to the rat. Its because he can sense guilt and untruthfulness around Peter. All of us have this radar, just we don't pay much attention to it on maturing, instead, relying on our logical side - the brain for answers. And since he didn't sense any malice from us, he didn't consider us a threat."

James looked thoughtful but the Founders stared at Salazar in shock.

"How did you know so much about babies Sal'?" Godric inquired.

"Do not call me 'Sal'! And I learnt about babies when.. well.. when uh.. Rowena and I er.." he concluded blushing.

Rowena raised an eyebrow. "You were so sure we were going to have kids?" she asked coolly.

Salazar just spluttered and blushed and scowled in annoyance when Godric started guffawing and Helga started chuckling.

James laughed too but he wondered about the Founders and their seemingly childish banter. His thoughts then turned sombre. He still couldn't believe, well he believed it but rather he couldn't accept that Peter could betray them. And not just him, Lily and Sirius too. He had almost torn apart the Marauders single - handedly from what he could gather of the previous timeline.

He also worried about their upcoming rendezvous with Voldemort and even though Rowena's rune plan sounded foolproof, James knew from experience that _nothing_ was foolproof. Especially not when a forgotten since ages runic system is used.

He sighed. He could do nothing about this now. _Only time will tell what becomes of us._

**A/N: I am so so sorry about this really late update. I know I promised to post it on the 24th but with school starting again and results and just a hectic schedule I couldn't. I am really sorry. But thankfully I have a week long break now so I would hopefully be able to post the next chapter soon, but no promises since I have a damned to hell workshop and breaking promises is ****_not_**** fun.**


	8. Chapter 8

**CH8: THE RUNE, THE PROPHECY AND THE TRUTH**

Lily was sitting on the floor with Rowena Ravenclaw 'sitting' beside her, teaching her the protection rune that was supposed to save them from Voldemort's attack. The rune was a fusion of two incomplete triangles. It was a protection rune not very common but not very uncommon either. In fact in the older books and symbolic structures, it would pop up constantly.

Lily found this weird.

"Rowena?"

"Hmm?" She looked up from the floor where she was currently analyzing Lily's rune drawing.

"This is the Protection Rune and has been taught at Hogwarts. But you said, that it has been forgotten for centuries?"

"No my dear. I said that the incantation has been lost for centuries. I made it. Without the incantation, it is just a rune - a rather weak Protection Rune. And even if it was remembered, it couldn't have been properly used. First it can't be used all the time, as it requires careful application and proper inscription on the family members. Second, it is useless in battle as it works only if the whole family is in danger. It is, after all, based on family love bond. And if once used, it usually fades away making it almost useless for people who do not know for how many times they may need it."

"I see..."

Finally Rowena pronounced Lily's work as perfect and James got a Blood Quill kept in their family heritage box, along with other nicks and nacks inherited since generations. Most valuable ones were kept in Gringotts, but some were useful around here; like the Blood Quill for contracts, the inherited mantlepiece ornament in the shape of a griffin that scanned nearby surroundings for dark magic and was currently adorning their mantle and other stuff like that.

Lily took a deep breath and drew the rune with the Blood Quill on the wood of Harry's crib. She winced as the quill cut through the sensitive skin of her wrist. She then handed the quill to James who handed Harry to her. She smiled at the fascination with which Harry was gazing at their blood on his crib. James completed drawing the rune and a faint outline of the rune appeared on their wrists.

Rowena examined their wrists and then said, "Hmm.. its a little light but no matter. You should be protected. Now keep Harry in his crib and say the incantation Salazar taught you."

They kept Harry in his crib and then chanted together.

_"Familia nostra defendere ex amore mali . Sic loquimini, et sic volumus, sic fiat."_

As they finished chanting, the Founders joined hands and suddenly a blue dome enveloped the house and then the runes glowed green, yellow and red in sucession; finally disappearing in a flash of blue light.

Harry clapped and laughed. He had obviously enjoyed the light show. Lily and James were amazed. They were filled with a sense of peace, love and belonging they had never felt so strongly before. Voldemort and the chaos their world was filled with, seemed like a distant and unpleasant dream. They looked at the Founders who were themselves looking really at peace with themselves and the world and were smiling, looking pleased with themselves, as if they had just accomplished the making of Hogwarts.

Suddenly Lily frowned and said, "Um.. Founders?"

"FOUNDERS? Is that a way to address us?" an outraged Godric yelled.

"Er yeah. It was too long to call all of you with your names."

"Humph." said Godric, not exactly pleased. The others though not overly happy about the way of address, did not seem as outraged as the Founder of Gryffindor House.

"Er, so what I wanted to know why exactly are we doing this? I mean, couldn't you have gone back in time a little more and prevented Peter from ever becoming disloyal or something like that? For that matter couldn't you all simply kill Voldemort? Or can't you prevent his becoming dark? Or couldn't you.."

"Hey hold on! Lily we couldn't do all these aforementioned things because for two reasons - first, we could have gone back in time only to change an event that directly led to the destruction of the world. And the second.. I think James should tell you that."

James looked startled, then suddenly his shoulders drooped as he clearly understood what was being referred to. Lily narrowed her eyes.

"James, what have you not told me?"

He looked guilty but sighed.

"I didn't want to worry you Lily. Its not a pretty thing to know. I just.."

"James tell me."

He flinched at the commanding tone and sighed.

"I.. its about why Dumbledore called me today. It wasn't an assignment, he wanted to tell me the reason for why specifically we have gone into hiding and not others. The reason is Harry."

"Harry? It seems that the reason for everything is Harry!"

"Er.. kind of."

"Huh?"

"Well.. you see there is a Prophecy."

"A Prophecy."

"Regarding Harry and Voldemort."

"WHAT?"

"Um, Dumbledore said, it could be Frank and Alice's son too, but he has sent us in hiding to ensure our safety. At least that is what was his intention, it seem that Peter being the spy has successfully removed any chances of us remaining safe. Well, that is why I am pretty sure now that Harry is the one the Prophecy is referring to."

"What does it say?" Lily asked with forced calm.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.. "

Absolute silence reigned as James finished the recital. Not even Harry made a sound.

James waited for the inevitable explosion, but that never came. Instead, Lily asked, "Who made it?"

James cringed. That was a question he'd been hoping she wouldn't ask.

"James." Her authoritative tone left no space for argument.

"Sybill Trelawney."

"TRELAWNEY? THAT FRAUD OF A SEER? THE ONE WHO IS REPUTED TO BE SPOUTING MAKE BELIEVE PROPHECIES IN PUBS AND BARS? HOW CAN DUMBLEDORE POSSIBLY BELIEVE WHAT SHE SAYS? THIS IS A BAG OF HIPPOGRIFF SHIT! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! DUMBLEDORE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL AND WISE WIZARD! HOW CAN HE BELIEVE THIS DUMB.. THIS.. THIS SHITTY DAMNED PROPHECY? MADE BY A FRAUD NONETHELESS! THIS.. THIS.. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"

Finally she stopped, took a deep breath and suddenly turned towards Harry who was looking scared by now, and pulled him into a smothering hug.

"My baby... My little Harry.. Oh dear.."

Harry was looking confused by this abrupt change in demeanour. Even James was a little shocked.

Then Salazar cleared his throat. "Um, Lily? I know you feel that this is prophecy is fake or at least you want to believe that, but I am afraid that this perfectly true. Prophecies have a way of getting fulfilled and it can be done any way. This prophecy is one of the main reasons that we came back to change things and chose Harry as our Spiritual Heir."

Lily turned to him. "Salazar? Couldn't it have been the Longbottoms' son? Why my Harry?"

"The person the Prophecy is referring to could have been anyone. Dumbledore is thinking of kids only in Britain and that too boys. It could have been any child born to parents who've defied him, in any country of the world, on the end of July that could have been 'The One' that the prophecy is referring to. A person who does not agree with Voldemort's ideals or is not of pure blood is continually defying him with every breath he takes. Thus there are many children who could've been the prophesised hero. But since Dumbledore and Voldemort believe it is either Harry or Neville, you are in jeopardy. And because Voldemort will decide that Harry is the danger, hence, Harry will become 'The Chosen One'."

"So actually it could have been any child and my son is in danger because those two fools think so? Just because what their dysfunctional old overworked minds think and believe, we should pay the price? I don't believe this!" Lily ranted.

Helga suddenly cleared her throat. "Uhm, Lily and James? I believe that we had told you that we will tell you the truth about Dumbledore?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. But what truth? Dumbledore is the most powerful and wise wizard In the world. He is the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had." James said.

Helga shook her head. "No my dear. Dumbledore might be a powerful and wise wizard, but he is not the greatest Headmaster of Hogwarts. He has lived too long. He is now overworked, tired and has remained on battle readiness for the last so many years. He has seen too much death to feel sadness for every life that is lost. Didn't you notice how casually he inspected you dead bodies? Its true that he felt for you as two of his best students, whom he cared for very much; but in the end you were just two lives - two pawns lost - an insignificant loss in the face of the greater good. That is his philosophy, he does everything that he feels will help in The Greater Good. But this philosophy coupled with his faults - keeping secrets, thinking that he knows best, make a really bad picture in the long run."

Lily was thoughtful and James looked convinced despite himself.

"You mean, we should not respect him?"

"No, respect him for his experience and wisdom. But do not follow him blindly. Do not believe his every whim. Do not think he knows best. Be a little wary of him - he is not above manipulation and coercion to get his way."

"Hmmm.. Can you show us a few memories of him manipulating anyone?"

"I would, but first you'd better write a note for Sirius, telling him about putting a drop of Harry's blood on your runes. And I think we should take this discussion for tomorrow, seeing that Voldemort is going to attack you in a few hours." Salazar said.

"Good Lord! You're right! They had better spend these last hours of their somewhat normal life as a family, for their life is going to become very very unnormal in a few hours. Well toodles!" Godric laughed and disappeared.

Everyone stared at the place where he was before.

"Well are you coming or not?" he reappeared frowning at the Founders.

They shook their heads, smiled reassuringly at the Potters' and waved. Then they all vanished.

Lily and James looked at each other and then sank on a couch with little Harry.

Now all they had to do was wait for their deaths and hope and pray that everything will be alright.

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who followed,favourited or reviewed. **

**** The chant:- Crude Latin translation for "Our love shall protect our family from harm. So we speak, so we intend, so mote it be." Sorry for the thoroughly unimaginative chant!****


	9. Chapter 9

**CH 9 : THE ATTACK**

James Potter and Lily Potter alongwith baby Harry were sitting in the living room of their home in Godric's Hollow, resembling for all, a normal looking happy and wonderful family, since they were currently laughing and playing with their lttle one year old son, seemingly celebrating Halloween.

But anyone who knew them really well would know that this wasn't the case.

James' shoulders were tensed and his body posture was too stiff to be considered relaxed. Lily's face was paler than normal and her beautiful green eyes whch were usually so alive and full of laughter looked dull and were filled with dread and anxiety. Baby Harry was looking happy per usual but even he had a touch of sombreity in him. Maybe it was just a side effect of having tense parents, but it almost seemed like he knew that something bad was going on.

Anyway, to all it seemed like a happy family Halloween celebration. Well apearences could be deceptive; clearly demonstrated by the snivellng little traitorous rat - Peter Pettigrew. A person taken under the wing of the most popular guys in the school out of pity. Considered a friend, a Marauder by his mates. A person who was so used to being a part of the most-awesome-group-of-guys-on-earth-who-ruled-it, that he couldn't cope with the reality of being pushed into a world where no one gave two shits about them. A weak and pathetic person who couldn't cope with said reality that in order to getting reflected fame and pride from the strong, he joined the self proclaimed Dark Lord Voldemort. A traitor who gave away seven years of best friendship and the life of his so called 'best friend' and idol to a master to get nothing but a few less crucio's. A miserable coward who sent another one of his 'best friends' to hell-on-earth - Azkaban and spent twelve years living as a rat, just to save his sorry arse. An ungrateful wretch who almost killed his 'best friend' when he sentenced one of his friends to death and the other to hell and a life of sorrow and betrayal.

This pathetic person was currently peeking in through the window of his best mate's home waiting for their executioner. He looked in and saw them looking happy and smiling. A pang filled his heart as he understood that this was the last time he was going to see James alive. But then he quickly replaced that solitary thought with others like how much glory he was going to get and how happy he would be. He had always resented the fact that James and Sirius got everything - grades, fame, girls.. they had everything! And he was always the tag along. Even Remus, a werewolf, had a better life than him! Once he had gotten the Dark Lord's offer, he had been surprised that the Lord wanted someone as worthless as him. But on recognising the benefits he had accepted. It had been the best decision he had ever made in his entire life. Now he was waiting on the windowsill of his best friend's house - waiting for his Lord to arrive and finish the job. He didn't exactly know why his Lord wanted to kill his best friend and his family, but there would have been a perfect reason. And after all who was he to question his Lord's decisions?

Suddenly there was a swish and a tall figure in black robes appeared beside him.

"Wormtail.." he hissed.

Peter hastily jumped off the sill and transformed.

"M-My Lord! Th-they are in my lord! You c-can do the job.."

"Shut up Wormtail! Don't tell me what to do or what not to do!"

"Y-Yes My Lord."

Then his Lord walked, no he glided, over to the front door and Peter turned back into a rat for safety. He looked at his best mate's famly once more feeling a little sad but only a little. After all it was James' fault that he was gong to die - he had chosen Sirius over him, and that had led to Peter becoming weak and he remembered how much Sirius used to make fun of him and it hurt (though he didn't know it) and he wasn't about to forgive James now.

Then there was a bang as his Lord opened up the door and he heard James shouting. Peter realised that even though he had sent James to his death he had no desire to see him die. So he scurried away and waited a little further where he couldn't see or hear clearly.

* * *

There was a bang and James and Lily shared a grim look of understanding. Then James started shouting as he had seen in the memory.

"Run Lily.. Its him! Take Harry and go! I'll fend him off! Run.. Go Lily.. Go somewhere safe!"

Lily nodded and snatched Harry who looked confused and tore up the stairs.

James turned around to face Voldemort who seemed amused at his proclamation that he would 'fend him off'. James reached for his wand which was kept at a side table fortunataley and just as he reached it, Voldemort fired a spell. James snatched his wand and tranfigured the couch into a mirror sending the spell bouncing back. Voldemort looked surprised - he hadn't expected him to retaliate. James hadn't expected him to fire a different spell though and he panicked now - what if the protection was removed after getting struck with one spell? He didn't know the intricacies of the runic protection after all. He hadn't paid attention to Rowena, not that he would have understood everything even if he had paid attention to her. He cursed and sent a "Stupefy!" back at Voldemort.

Voldemort laughed. "Oh so you want to fight? Me - The Dark Lord? Haha.. Do you really think you and your mudblood wife would remain safe today? You stand no chance against me blood-traitor, your skills have rusted away as you consorted with muggles and muggle-lovers."

James clenched his fists. _I do know we'll survive this battle and you'll not_. But he couldn't very well say that. So he replied with a mocking laugh, "Yeah Voldemort, my skills rusted away. Those exact same skills with which me and Lily have 'defied' you and your pets three times."

Voldemort's jaw tightened - if you could even call it a jaw, calling it 'the patch of skin beneath the slit of a mouth' would have been better. He looked furious and muttered the spell that anyone else would have dreaded but James had expected.

"Avada Kedavra."

James saw the green light blossoming out of hs wand and he seemed to be hypnotized by it. Time slowed and all James could see was the mesmerising streak of light that rushed towards him and suddenly enveloped him.

One moment all he could see was green light and the next, nothing.

* * *

Lily had taken Harry up and put him into his crib and was trying to control her frantic heart which was bursting due to worry for James and Harry.. especially Harry. She knew that the future of their world rested on Harry's little shoulders and she couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Even though Rowena had done her best to assure them of the plan being foolproof, she was concerned since they couldn't exactly test it by casting an Avada Kedavra.

Suddenly the exact same words that she was thinking about reached her ears and she immediately understood that Voldemort had delivered the Killing blow. Even though she knew logically James would be alright, she couldn't help the scream that burst from he mouth. She heard the bastard's cruel laughter and held her breath. She kissed Harry who was looking scared now and took a deep breath. Then the door banged. And thre stood Voldemort in all his snaky glory.

"Please don't.." Lily cried.

"Stand aside you stupid girl.. Stand aside.."

"Please have mercy..mercy.." Lily begged.

"Stand aside now or I won't give you another chance.."

Lily shook her head resolutely and Voldemort laughed his cruel laugh.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The fatal green light rushed towards her and Lily stood fearless in its path. She prayed that their plan had worked and prayed to every deity available that they keep her Harry safe. As the green light enveloped her in its non-existent arms, her last conscious thought was of her family.

* * *

Harry looked at the laughing man in front of him. His laugh wasn't happy like his dad's or his Uncle Pa'foot's or even quiet and smiley like his Uncle Mooey's. It was different.. and it made Harry feel scared. He wanted his mummy and daddy to pick him up, but his daddy was downstairs and his mummy was lying on the floor. He didn't quite know what she was doing there, but he knew she wasn't there by choice.

Suddenly the bad man raised his head and smiled. It wasn't a nice smile, it was scary.

"Harry Potter.." he hissed like a snake.

"I've waited for this moment... Harry Potter.. You were supposed to be Dumbledore's secret weapon - one who could kill me, the Dark Lord! And yet here we are.. opposite each other and you are defenceless, a poor baby who is about to join his parents in heaven.."

Harry cocked his head to the side. He didn't understand anything except the word 'parents'.

"Mama and dada?" he asked.

The man laughed. "Yes, mummy and daddy.." his snaky voice said.

"Avada Kedavra."

Harry watched as a streak of green light came rushing towards him and struck him. It tingled and Harry didn't like it. He suddenly felt a vibration from the design his mama had drawn on his crib and then there was a BANG! And then everything was quiet.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

A man with black hair and a pale face was hurrying on a motorcycle towards his friend's house. This scenario is quite average until you take in a few facts like this: The house was a ruin and had been blasted apart by an explosion just a few minutes ago, the man's motorcycle was not normal - after all it was flying, the man was steering dangerously as he had his eyes closed and navigated from memory.

As the wind whipped his hair and dried his tears of fear and rage, he looked like some deranged scientist who had made a flying motorbike and had lost control.

The reality couldn't have been more different. The man was not a muggle scientist at all, he was a wizard - Auror Sirius Black, prankster extraordinaire, best mate of James Potter, godfather to little Harry Potter, member of the Marauders, also known as "Padfoot" to his friends, and a would - be murderer.

Sirius skidded to a stop outside the village of Godric's Hollow in the sky as his breath caught and his heart stopped on seeing the green glow of the Dark Mark on the house of his beloved best mate. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for the sight in front of him to change and let all this be a dream - a nightmare. But when he opened his eyes, it was all still there. He felt a wave of fury at Peter and sorrow crash over him and he revved his motorbike and rushed down.

He stopped at the door, took a deep breath and entered. He saw the living room was blackened with residue of a few stray spell but nothing much was damaged. His breath caught on seeing black messy hair in the hall way. He rushed there and found the body of his best mate James Potter lying there. _His brother in all but blood._ He broke into sobs and cradled his head.

After what felt like eternity, he stood up and went up the stairs. What he saw horrified him. The nursery had blown apart and it was thoroughly blackened. He saw some black robes and a wand lying in the doorway, that gave off a dirty feeling, and then saw something that made him break into another volley of fresh sobs. Lily, looking calm and peaceful with her beautiful hair spread everywhere, lying dead a few feet from Harry's crib.

But what shocked him the most was Harry's crib. It was glowing in different colours- red, blue, green and yellow. He stepped forward and noticed that it had enveloped Harry in a protective bubble and was emanating from a rune inscribed in his crib. He stared at it in fascination. The something made him shift his head and look at Lily. What he saw shocked him. There was a similar rune on Lily's wrist and it too was glowing faintly. He ran downstairs to check and sure enough, James's wrist too had the same rune glowing faintly.

Sirius's mind was racing. He knew something was to be done with the rune and done quickly or Aurors would come and arrest him for conspiring with Voldemort since he was assumed to be the Secret Keeper.

Suddenly he heard a baby's cry. He started up the stairs and on reaching Harry's crib whose glow had dimmed a little but was still there, and saw Harry amazingly alive and crying. And on noticing him, reaching for him. He immediately picked him up and the glow from the crib started fading rapidly. Sirius panicked and put Harry back down since the glow was obviously a protection charm. But as he leaned to put Harry into his crib, he saw a slip of paper. He kept Harry in and picked up the paper. He opened it to find James's familiar chicken scrawl. The note however didn't make sense. It said:

_Sirius,  
All's fine and dandy. Harry has gotten quite good at breaching the passwords. Remember that Rats are creating quite the menace here. Hope to see you soon.  
James and Lily._

The note didn't make sense. What had James trying to tell him? Sirius looked at the paper more carefully. Something didn't settle about it in him.

"He called me Sirius.. Prongs never call me 'Sirius'.. Never in writing.. He'd always call me Padfoot.."

He read the paper again. The phrase ''All's fine and dandy caught his eye." He remembered how once, back in third year, James had gotten into the habit of using this phrase for anything that wasn't fine. He remembered the instance when Lily had rejected James by slapping him on the face. He was lamenting his fate and his very existence in the dorm when Peter had come and asked if he was alright. James had replied sarcastically that 'all was fine and dandy.' Peter had been really confused and since then it had become a joke among them.

Why would James use this phrase here though? Unless.. everything wasn't fine and dandy and he knew it. Sirius scanned the paper again and then thought about the part with Harry and the password.

"Password.. And Harry.. The phrase for the activation of the map.. we have had it as a password since forever.. so is that it?"

With trembling hands Sirius placed his wand tip at the paper and spoke:

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

The paper suddenly glowed and blanked. Then it lengthened and soon writing appeared on it. It was James' handwriting. It said:

_Padfoot,_

_I know you are feeling guilty and angry and fearful and you think we are dead. But I assure you we are not dead. But don't let anyone take us to St. Mungos since there we'll not be considered alive nor will we be considered dead and we will become test subjects for the Healers. We really don't want that._

_I know this actually makes no sense to you, but please believe me when say we are not dead. We knew He was going to come today and took precautionary measures against it. _

_Now we are in a comatose state. We are alive but our heartbeat, breathing everything has stopped. We are alive just because our soul is still intact inside our bodies and has not left it. I actually don't understand it very well. Lily will tell you more about it. _

_I want you to take Harry and using your wand draw a little of Harry's blood. Don't be too shocked. (And yes, we do need Harry's blood. You can't give yours. So stop thinking about that.) Keep the blood in a little bowl or vial or whatever you want. Then using the blood quill kept on the mantle, inscribe the rune which must be currently glowing on our wrists onto each of our hands - mine and Lily's. Blood would appear, and before it heals press a drop of Harry's blood to it. It would be helpful if you do it near the crib which by now must be glowing. Then we will hopefully wake up and explain everything. _

_And, Pads, if we don't wake up, then please take care of Harry and do not think that its your fault._

_Now wipe the tears immediately, as they don't suit a Marauder Padfoot._

_Prongs and Lils._

Sirius smiled at the last line and wiped his tears away. He had no doubt whatsoever that this was not a joke. He set about doing what the letter had told him to. He smiled tearfully at Harry who was staring at him wondering what was going on. He poked one hand through the glow and marvelled at the tingly sensation running through him.

Then he looked at Harry and said softly, "Harry, you trust Padfoot don't you?"

Harry blinked and smiled toothily.

Sirius couldn't help the smile that broke through on his face. He grinned feebly before taking out his wand and pointing it at Harry's arm. He didn't want to cut a major vein but since he had to take some blood, he had to be really careful.

He took a deep breath and prayed to whatever gods that were listening to forgive him for doing this. He then muttered "_Incisio_". He winced at the burning sensation suddenly appearing in his wand arm. It felt like it was about to fall off - it seemed like that bubble thing was punishing him. Then as soon as it had come, it disappeared. He breathed a sigh of relief.

A small cut appeared on Harry's arm and Harry's eyes filled with tears and he started crying loudly. Sirius cringed but he had no choice. He conjured a vial and put three - four drops of his blood in the vial.

Then he immediately set about healing Harry. He muttered _"Emaculo Sano"._ The blood immediately cleared up and the skin joined together.

Harry was still crying so he shushed him.

"Shush Harry, its alright. I am really sorry about this but I have to wake up your Mummy and Daddy, so keep quiet for a little bit please?"

Harry stopped crying and looked at him with his big and currently wet green eyes.

"Mama and Dada?"

Sirius smiled sadly. "Yes Harry mummy and daddy."

Harry looked thoughtful but he didn't make another sound.

Then Sirius went and picked Lily's "body" cringing at how cold she seemed. He kept her near Harry's crib and then went to the hallway to bring James too. He felt tears prick his eyes as he touched James' cold face and looked into his "dead" eyes. With this sight in front, it seemed hard to believe that the letter he had just read had been written by the same man. He heard Harry cry and immediately picked James up and brought him to the nursery. As soon he laid him beside Lily and Harry's crib, the glow expanded and enveloped Lily and James in its protective embrace. Sirius blinked but then shrugged.

He went to the living room and brought the blood quill and then very hesitantly poked into the glow. A momentary sharp tingle ran through his veins but it wasn't burning like before. He put the Quill in James' cold hand and proceeded to guide his hand and drew the rune. The rune got etched onto his hand and it glowed white hot. He did the same with Lily and the rune glowed white on her wrist too. Then as he pulled back, without warning the rune and the glow started pulsing with colours - blue, green, yellow, red, again blue and finally a flash of white light lit up the room. It was so bright that Sirius was momentarily blinded.

When he could see again, he saw that the glow had faded entirely leaving behind a fascinated looking Harry and the still - too still forms of Lily and James.

Sirius thought that it hadn't worked like it was supposed to and he had messed up real bad, but then as he moved forward, a sight too good to be true greeted him - two people, who were to all appearances "dead" waking up as if they had just went into a deep sleep.

James and Lily stirred and opened their eyes.

Lily smiled and James said, "Hello Padfoot."

This was the last thing Sirius heard before he fainted.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Someone was stirring him. Someone was forcing him to wake up. He didn't want to wake up though. And Sirius Black was not someone who bent to others will. He was an independent person and therefore will not listen to this person whoever was shaking him.

"Sod Off."

A pause.

Silence. Ahh.. blissful silence. He could now sleep in peace, like he used to sleep. Like the dead.

"Hmm.. dead. That reminds me of something. But I do not want to be reminded. Let me sleep you dratted thoughts! Lemme sleep I say!"

Dead...

"Alright you win. Who's dead?"

James and Lily..

Crap.

"JAMES!" He shouted and woke up.

James stared at his best mate. Sirius was acting unusually weird. For him, talking in his sleep wasn't that weird but talking to his thoughts was. And who the hell talks about being dead in their sleep?

James shook his head confused.

Only then did James notice that Sirius was awake and weeping and screaming his name.

"Padfoot? Why in Merlin's name are you weeping?"

Sirius' head shot up.

"James? Is that really you? But.. but you are.. so that means I am dead! Oh my God I am dead! Two of us together! Oh my! Dear Merlin, please give strength to Moony our last comrade in the living world and please make sure that the dratted rat burns in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity. And tell Moony that I did not leave him on purpose. Hey I don't even know how I died? James do you know?"

Sirius turned to look at James expectantly. James was staring at him in shock. He frowned and looked around. He saw Lily holding Harry and staring at him too.

Wait a minute.. Was that little Harry?

Sirius' eyes welled up with tears again. "Harry.. oh my little Harry! How did you die? I saw you well, no not really well, you had this ugly scar on your pretty little forehead but you were perfectly alive! You were sitting in a bubble of colours emanating from a rune and it was protecting you! How did you die then? Wh.."

James cut him off. (Harry was looking at him as if he was weird, even though Sirius was quite sure that little babies did not think like that and it was just a misunderstood look of love.)

"Sirius, listen to me. We are not dead. And so you are also not dead. So shove this thought immediately from your thick head. Also if you don't remember, we had inscribed a protection rune on each of our wrists and on Harry's crib. It protected us from the Killing Curse. When the curse struck, it rendered us unconscious.."

"Not unconscious James, Rowena told us that we would be comatose. Our pulse, breathing, heartbeat everything stopped. We were essentially dead but also alive. We were alive only because our soul did not leave our body. Normally when a person dies, their body gets destroyed, that is life processes stop working. And therefore the soul leaves. But the runic protection did not allow that to happen. Our life processes stopped yes, but our soul could not leave. Our souls were in fact joined together by the bonds of our love. And Harry who was being protected by the double love bonds and also by my sacrifice for him, lived. That bubble of colours was our love protecting him and since we just had the rune protecting us, our protective shield was much weaker." Lily explained.

Sirius looked confused. "I am still not sure I understood anything.."

Lily heaved an exasperated sigh.

Suddenly a disembodied voice called out, "Stop Lily dear, we'll come and explain this to him."

Lily looked surprised but nodded. James looked a little freaked out but not too much. Harry looked unconcerned. And as for Sirius, he was looking supremely terrified.

"Wh-what was th-that James? Don't tell me Voldemort can do disembodied voices and he is coming to kill me and you.. I can't bear losing you again Prongs.."

He was actually hyperventilating. James and Lily stared at him in alarm. James rushed forward and kept a steadying hand on his shoulder and said, "Its alright Padfoot, nothing is wrong.. Voldemort is gone now.."

Lily also patted his head and then Harry did something that calmed and shocked him. He kissed his cheek while saying, "Pa'foo, no cy.."

Sirius stopped hyperventilating and stared at Harry. He had never kissed his cheek before.

Suddenly he heard a voice - "Aw.. how sweet.."

He turned his head around to see an astonishing sight - four people wearing outdated clothes were standing there looking 'not-quite-all-there'. A beautiful woman in a yellow robe was cooing at Harry who was currently hanging from Sirius' neck. The others were two men and another woman wearing red, green and blue robes respectively.

Sirius's mouth hung open.

"What the f.."

"Ahem." Lily cleared her throat.

Sirius shook his head like a dog. "What are they?"

Godric looked affronted. "Please don't talk about us like we are things. We are the Founders - the ones who made Hogwarts and you'd better respect us.."

But Sirius wasn't listening. He had already fainted.

James slapped his forehead.

"God, what is it with Sirius and fainting today?"

"You are one to talk. You fainted twice too." Lily glowered as she handed a bemused Harry to James and started to pull Sirius' limp body up.

"Urgh, he's heavy."

The Founders looked on amused until Helga chuckled and said, "You are a witch you know."

Lily blushed and promptly dropped Sirius back on the floor.

James guffawed. Lily glared at him cheeks still flaming red.

Then she picked up her wand and floated Sirius to the sofa and then revived him.

Sirius woke up with a gasp and almost elbowed Lily in the face. She stepped back and gave him a dirty look. James and the Founders looked on amused.

Sirius spotted Lily glaring at him and paled. "I.. I am sorry Lily.. I - I don't know what I did.. But I am SO sorry.. Don't hex me PLEASE.." And he put his arms in front of his face and shifted a little. But on shifting, he caught sight of the spectral forms of the Founders and, if possible, paled even more.

"They.. they are real.. not dream.." he stuttered.

Slytherin glared at him. "You know we are not that bad looking.. Some Gryffindor you are!"

At this Sirius forgot his earlier fear and said indignantly, "OI!" This coincidentally was said at the time as Godric Gryffindor. They both looked at each other and after a moment Godric inclined his head, giving permission to Sirius to speak. Sirius nodded graciously, the inner well - mannered pureblood in him resurfacing for a moment.

He then glared and then said, "I'll have you know I am a true Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat thought so and so do my family, though don't think it is a compliment according to them.." The last part was added as a afterthought

Godric looked wistful. "Ah.. Alistair, How I miss him!"

Lily looked surprised. "You named your hat?"

Helga and Rowena snorted. "You wouldn't believe what all things he has named! He once named his red polka dotted socks, Andrew and Alfred!"

"Hey I named my socks Andrew too! Andrew I and Andrew II.. They were so lovely,, all soft and warm and squiggly.." James piped up.

Lily turned her disbelieving stare onto him. "I cannot believe you sometimes.." she shook her head disparagingly.

Sirius guffawed. James and Godric looked affronted.

"It is a perfectly okay thing to name your socks thank you very much. Otherwise how are you supposed to know whether the particular sock has to go on the left foot or the right foot?" James said.

Godric applauded. Slytherin and Sirius snorted. The women rolled their eyes. And Harry watched Godric and his ethereal clapping in fascination.

Suddenly Lily remembered something. "Say, Rowena? Shouldn't Dumbledore be making an appearance sometime soon?"

Rowena smirked. "Never thought you'd ask. He is outside, busy trying to weaken the rune's protective bubble to enter."

Helga sensed Lily's unasked question. "No, the bubble won't weaken unless we want it to, and once Dumbledore enters the protected field, he would feel that just a few moments passed while he was trying to weaken the wards."

"And what about Hagrid? When will he come?"

"No one else apart from Peter, know about this as of now. Only when Dumbledore notifies them will they get to know about it."

Lily was about to ask another question, but Sirius interrupted.

"Wait a minute. Lily I understand about Dumbledore coming here, cause he had put notifying wards around your home. But what about Hagrid? Why would he come here? And how would you know if he is coming? Oh yes and you still haven't given me any sort of explanation about the presence of these.. well.. not-ghosts."

"Oh, right. You don't know yet. Uhh.. Where to start?" Lily wondered.

"How about at the beginning?" Sirius said.

Suddenly James stopped her. "Wait, lets first get Dumbledore out of the way and only then we should give Sirius the explanation. Okay?"

Sirius demanded, "What are you saying - get Dumbledore out of the way?"

"Sirius not now. Maybe Lily can explain everything to you within a minute while I go and get Dumbledore. Oh and Sirius you'd better act like you've come just now. And the Founders, it'd be better if you turned invisible." James said handing Harry to Lily and striding away.

James went to the front door and opened it. He stood at the steps for a minute marvelling at the protective bubble covering his house and the wards in a multi-coloured glow. It looked so enchanting. As he walked, he wondered what he'd say to Dumbledore. The man he no longer felt any sort of grandfatherly affection for. There was a time when he would have welcomed the old professor with open arms. But it was no longer the case. Now he felt disgust and scorn and even a little pity at the thought of his former headmaster. He couldn't believe that he would have let them just die without any care for them.

He reached the edge of the wards. He could see the professor oblivious to his presence waving his wand, the twinkle in his eyes looking crazed and muttering something - possibly profanities.

James took a deep breath and stepped outside the ward limit.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore."

Albus Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation Of Wizards, Headmaster Of Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and a whole lot of other time consuming titles, prided himself on not being astonished or shocked by anything. Even when his most gifted student - Tom Riddle had managed to shock the world by becoming the Dark Lord, he had managed to conceal his shock. But now, here was an experience that he'd never had.

Albus Dumbledore was shocked and horrified.

He stared at James as if he was seeing a ghost (which James was supposed to be, in his mind).

James was amused. He along Sirius had always wanted to shock the Headmaster. They played countless pranks to do that but never managed. Even when they'd toppled all of the professors' bookshelves, and then popped in a firework that blasted and said "You're Pranked", even then he'd just smiled and with his eyes twinkling, called them out of the cupboard and given them a detention. And now, here he was shocking the Headmaster by his mere presence.

"Do I have something on my nose professor?"

Dumbledore shook his head and wiped the shocked expression off his face. He smiled at James bemusedly and then asked him, "Ah.. James. I am so relieved to see you perfectly fine. I was afraid that something had happened to you when my monitoring ward sounded. I take it Lily and Harry are inside? Ah yes.. If you don't mind my asking my boy, what is this ward? It has been put up magnificently and I did not know you could put up wards of such strength."

James smiled politely and answered, "You see professor we don't know ourselves what this is. Why don't you come inside professor, we'll tell you everything then."

Dumbledore nodded and went in with him, wondering what he'd do now that his plans had all failed.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Albus Dumbledore had never felt this confused in his long life.

He entered the house with James, who for some reason did not seem as respectful as he usually did. On entering, he saw a really strange sight.

Lily, with Harry in her arms, was laughing with Sirius.

It wouldn't seem strange at any other time, but considering the circumstances, it was pretty strange.

How could Sirius have come before him? More importantly, how did he gain entry, when not even he himself could do so with his years' worth of talent and experience? And how come Lily is laughing? Shouldn't she be sad?

It was safe to say that Albus Dumbledore was hopelessly confused.

Suddenly Lily turned around, saw him and the laughter died on her lips. He didn't see the awed and respectful look that she usually gave him. Even though he was bewildered, he attempted to salvage his remaining dignity by giving her his patented grandfatherly smile. She smiled back, albeit a little reluctantly. He shrugged it off as the after shocks of the attack.

"Ah Lily and Sirius. And of course little Harry. So sorry to hear about the attack my dear, I am so sorry that I couldn't have done anything to prevent it.."

James looked on in disgust as his former headmaster gave his condolences to them. He still didn't fully understand how Dumbledore was responsible for their fate, but was putting together the pieces of the puzzle. When Dumbledore had told him about the monitoring ward, the first question in his mind had been that how could Dumbledore have not prevented the attack if he had a monitoring ward? He tuned the old wizard out and thought about this. After a few moments he noticed that Dumbledore had stopped going on about whatever he was going on about. He now decided to take the bull by the horns.

"Professor?"

"Yes my boy?"

Insert grandfatherly, benign, I'm-superior-than-you-so-worship-me-smile and the famous eye twinkles.

"I.. well, you mentioned some monitoring wards outside in the garden. I was, well, wondering if you had gotten some warning about the attack then um, why didn't any rescue party or Aurors or even you yourself come?"

Something flashed in Dumbledore's eyes that he couldn't quite place, but it didn't seem good whatever it was.

The old professor smiled sadly and said, "Ah.. Yes James. The monitoring ward. You see my boy, I had been able to place a ward that would alert me about any damage caused to the occupants of the house. So only when the first lethal spell had been cast I had gotten the warning. Alas I had been otherwise occupied at the time and not in my office so I had not been able to hear it. It was only when I returned, around five minutes after that I noticed it and then I rushed here. Then I found my arrival impeded by that protective warding over the grounds and was not able to breach it and come inside despite my best efforts. Speaking of the warding, you wouldn't know anything about it, would you Lily?"

Lily gave a look to James, conveying in a single look that "They had to talk later."

Then she turned to the professor with a pleasant yet confused smile, "No professor, I am honestly very sorry to say that I don't know how it was cast and how come its protecting us. I was hoping that you would be able to shed some light on this. Why, I only got to know about when I looked out of the window and saw the beautiful bubble like covering and you standing outside!"

Dumbledore said, "Ah I am sorry my dear but it seems that this ward is arcane even for me! But I did have one question for you my dear, and for Sirius too, that how come he was able to come when I couldn't gain entry?"

Lily looked panicking at James and he too was confused about how to answer this without giving the game away.. when Sirius saved the day.. or night, whatever.

"Ah professor! You see when I came here, I was too distraught to think about anything other than James and Lily and Harry. I didn't have any intention to find out things, or think about who vanquished the Dark Lord and stuff like that. I was acting on raw emotions. Maybe the bubble sensed my emotions and let me in?"

James was impressed. He was sure Sirius was going to say that he had not seen any bubble which was the truth. But it would have made Dumbledore suspicious since he didn't know anything about the rune. That's why he was worrying so much. But Sirius had pulled this off perfectly. Without making Dumbledore suspicious about anything..

"James? You told Sirius about the prophecy? He just used the phrase vanquished the Dark Lord."

Ah.. famous last words.

"Yes professor. I did. After all, Sirius is Harry's godfather and he has a right to know. And it was better I told him for if today hadn't gone the way it had, it would have been up to Sirius to do something about it." James said as he was quite sure Lily had just now told Sirius about it and that was why he had used the phrase.

Dumbledore considered. He wasn't happy by any means, but knew that tone. It was when James was convinced of something or convinced that the other person was wrong. It seemed that there was not much he could do about it, short of obliviating Sirius. But that would lead to an enraged James and a furious Lily and considering that one of them had managed to cast a spell to defeat Voldemort himself, he didn't want to take a chance.

"Ah. I agree with you my boy. Just a few more questions if you don't mind?"

"Sure professor."

Dumbledore considered. What to ask first?

"James. If you could recount what happened to you? What all do you remember?"

"I was in the living room with Lily and Harry, professor. We were reminiscing about old times, when the wards went down. I panicked and ordered Lily to take Harry and go. She rushed up the stairs just as Voldemort came in through the front door. He taunted me and we battled for a few minutes until an Avada caught me. I knew nothing else till I woke up."

Dumbledore looked expectantly at Lily.

"I went up the stairs and tried to apparate since the wards were under our control and should have bent to my will. But it seemed as if Voldemort had arranged his own anti - apparition wards since I couldn't apparate. I then put Harry in his crib and said my goodbyes to him, all the while looking for anything that would save us. I heard the Killing Curse being spoken by Voldemort and had screamed then. Voldemort came up and surprisingly ordered me to leave Harry and turn away. I obviously refused and he then simply spoke the Killing Curse and my last thought was a prayer to Merlin, the Founders, Morgana le Fey or whatever deities there were to save Harry and let him live a fruitful life. Then I woke up to find Sirius and James leaning over me with Harry in the crib."

"I see." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Sirius what did you see?"

"I reached here to find the house demolished and James lying still and cold in the hallway. Lily was in the same condition in the Nursery. But Harry was in his crib and was crying and there had been a lot of damage to the nursery. I picked him up to notice a scar on his forehead and it was bleeding. I tried to heal him. Then I turned back and went to James's body. I touched his face and felt it warm. I started and tried to revive him and it worked. We then did the same with Lily."

"Hmm.. there was no body of Voldemort?"

"No professor. Nothing except for robes."

"I see. I should now take my leave, since I have to notify the Ministry and the Aurors to stop searching for Lord Voldemort as he is dead. Also the Order has to be disbanded and I suppose you would like to celebrate too without a senile, old professor crashing the party." His blue eyes twinkled.

Lily laughed a little while James just smiled politely.

Dumbledore nodded to them and smiled at Harry who smiled toothily back and took his leave.

Dumbledore reached the edge of the bubble like covering and turned on the spot, only to appear at the gates of Hogwarts. He walked to his office contemplating the night and the surprising events that had transpired. Even though his plan of eliminating the parents of little Harry to gain his control had failed but it was no matter since he had other plans and just needed to tweak them a little. It was a relief to know they were still alive though, since it had been hurting his conscience as the Leader Of the Light to allow two of his best students and fighters to be murdered. At least the events had accomplished one thing - he finally had confirmed who would be the downfall of Voldemort. The only snag now was the cool attitude of the Potters and Sirius towards him. Though it wouldn't have been noticed by an outsider, Dumbledore had noticed that James and Lily were polite and not enthusiastic in their greetings and Sirius was quite cold, which was extremely surprising and unnerving since Sirius had always been a very enthusiastic supporter of Dumbledore to rub it in the faces of his family and disappoint his insane mother.

Dumbledore supposed that the cool reception might have had something to do with shock and grief at discovering that a dear friend was a traitor.

Also, now the biggest variable was Tom. Albus was fairly sure that he was not dead, given the lack of a body and the prophecy which told of another encounter between Tom and Harry.

Dumbledore sighed as he sat down behind his oak desk. He picked up a piece of parchment and a quill as he started writing a letter that would bring relief to the majority of the Wizarding World and would hopefully usher in a new era of peace and happiness.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Alastor Moody, the paranoid veteran Auror was in his office contemplating a bottle of Firewhiskey. He was tired, annoyed and extremely fed up of this war. Yesterday he had had to file ten reports about the recent activities of the Death Eaters. Add that painful task to his painful injuries caused while trying to prevent the same ten events led him to this - a bottle of Firewhiskey, to drown his sorrows, or annoyances.

As he sat contemplating, his floo flared. As he tilted his head, his hand reached for his wand and in a second he had the Minister at his mercy.

The Minister, a stern old lady - Millicent Bagnold, huffed and said, "Remove your wand from my throat this instant Alastor. Ministry Floos are perfectly safe and there is no Death Eater around!"

Alastor regarded her with cool eyes. "If you were the Minister, then you would have known that no one is to floo to my office. Rather, the Minister always sends an assistant to me for conveying any information. So if you are a Death Eater then you had better come quietly or you'll find that I know rather nasty curses."

He gripped her left arm tightly and started dragging her towards the door.

"Alastor! Unhand me this instant! I demand you unhand me and listen to me before taking me to the DMLE or chucking me into Azkaban or... or I... will have you fired regardless of your prowess in dealing with Death Eaters! Unhand me RIGHT NOW!" she shrieked.

Alastor's grip faltered a little since her way of shouting was very similar to the Minister's whenever she discovered any problem in her Ministry (which was almost all the time). And therefore he was quite accustomed to her tirades. But still he knew that this must be a Death Eater, since the Minister never came to his office as he had expressly told her not to do so.

Suddenly the Floo flared and Dumbledore's head poked out from the fire. Alastor turned immediately and almost dropped his wand on seeing the sedate face of Albus Dumbledore staring at him looking a little puzzled.

But he readjusted his grip on his wand and pointed it at the new imposter.

"Who are you?" he growled dangerously. "I already have your little Death Eater friend and you'd better stop impersonating the Headmaster of Hogwarts and turn yourself in before I chuck you into Azkaban!"

Fake-Albus raised an eyebrow in a very Albus-ish amused way.

"Ah. Millie I feared you may have encountered such a problem with our very dear friend. What must I do to convince you that I am the very same Albus Dumbledore?"

Moody's eyes narrowed. "Do the signature eye twinkles and write down The Address."

Fake-Albus again raised a white eyebrow and then suddenly his blue eyes were twinkling in the same grandfatherly way as they had always done and he stepped out of the floo, conjured a piece of parchment, quill and wrote down the address of the Headquarters of the Order Of Phoenix.

As he read the parchment, Moody's eyes widened to epic proportions and he immediately let go of the Minister's arm resulting in her stumbling and cursing Moody to the seventh tier of hell. Even he winced at some of her curses and he was well used to crude and dirty language, being in the profession of hauling the dirty arses of the Death Eaters to the holding cells.

"Constant Vigilance Minister. Though I am very sorry about the less than warm welcome. But Minister I had specifically asked you not to ever floo to my office. So..." he trailed off at the look on the Minister's face.

"Today was an emergency Auror Moody. And it was about a piece of information so sensitive that I didn't want half the secretarial staff to know about it. So I thought it best to floo call you. Obviously I was wrong." she snapped in a furious tone.

"I had no way of knowing that there was an emergency Minist... Er. Right. An emergency. So why are we wasting our time here? Let's head up to the Minister's office! Albus, floo back there first. Minister you next and I will bring up the rear. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Minister Bagnold narrowed her eyes and huffed but nodded. Albus stepped over to the floo and in a whoosh of flames, he was gone. The minister, who was still giving Alastor the stink-eye stepped over next and in a moment was gone. Alastor checked his foe glass, took his pocket Sneakoscope and after again running a suspicious eye over things stepped through the floo and entered the Minister's office.

He found himself in front of an impatient Minister and an (as usual) unruffled looking Albus.

"FINALLY Auror Moody! What were you doing? Checking your spy glass?" The Minister said sarcastically.

"Actually it's called a foe glass Minister." he replied respectfully.

Albus' eyes twinkled merrily and he seemed extremely amused while the Minister seemed fit to explode with rage.

Alastor recognized the danger, and immediately hastened to correct his error to prolong his career.

"Minister you said there was an emergency?"

Bagnold huffed. "Yes Auror Moody. The information is extremely sensitive and I hope you don't alert anyone before we decide to announce it, lest it create chaos."

Alastor inclined his head curiously, his mind immediately constructing scenes of Hogsmeade destroyed or Hogwarts under threat or something along similar lines.

Thus he was completely blown away when the Minister's next words hit him.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is dead."

"I beg your pardon?"

Bagnold sighed. "Yes, Alastor, He really is dead."

He is dead? You-Know-Who, The Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named dead?

"As in _dead_ dead?"

"What other type of dead is there?" she snapped.

Alastor swallowed. He couldn't believe this. He'd been hoping and praying for this sort of news for so many days, and yet here it was, and... It seemed too good to be true. He had wished for this news but had always believed that he wouldn't be around to see that happen as the war seemed to stretch on forever and get more and more bloody every day.

"Who was the one who killed him?"

Albus replied softly, "Harry Potter, most probably."

Harry Potter? The little kid of James and Lily Potter? That little baby killed the most fearsome Dark Wizard of all times? It was unbelievable, Albus must be having him on.

Albus chuckled a little. "No Alastor, I am not having you on. Lord Voldemort..."

Bagnold flinched noticeably. Alastor could barely hide his, while berating himself for being so spaced out that he had spoken aloud.

"... is clearly dead. He attacked the Potter's house yesterday, that is on the 30th of October, 1981. He..."

"Wait! James... and Lily they are dead?" Even though Alastor was extremely glad that the Dark nutter was dead, he couldn't help but wish that it had been someone else, anyone else other than one of his best pupils and his charming young wife. He grieved for them, since obviously no one could have survived an attack by Voldemort on them..

Albus's next words jolted him.

"No, Alastor, they are not dead." He said simply.

"They are alive?! How..." Alastor trailed off confused.

"How indeed.. " murmured Albus. "It seems no one knows how they survived, though I have seen evidence of some arcane ward around their cottage and property. It seems to be encased in a protective bubble pulsing with energy. It seems to have allowed them to get back to life."

"But how was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named defeated in the first place?" the Minister asked sharply.

"My theory is that on seeing his mother and father 'die', young Harry was so traumatised that his magic reacted lethally when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse at him. It seems that this raw power of accidental magic, blew Voldemort to smithereens and revived his parents and encased his house in a protective bubble. It was so strong that even I was not able to enter their house."

There was a silence as the others comprehended the facts and contemplated the immense amount of power young Harry presumably had.

"To bring someone back from the dead.." murmured Millicent.

"As awe inspiring this is, we need to break this news to the public in such a way so as to stop any riots from occurring and we also need to apprehend the remaining Death Eaters who may wish to take revenge from the young Potters. They may also engage in other.. activities, as a last act of defiance." Albus said briskly snapping Alastor out of his stupor.

"And what of Siri.. Black Albus?" he said gruffly as his mind contemplated the reality of the situation, that Sirius Black had betrayed the Potters.

"Huh? What about Sirius?"

"He was the Secret Keeper of the Potters, wasn't he? He must have betrayed them to Voldemort. We need to arrest him for treason and for consorting with the enemy." His heart ached as he remembered the young Auror and his skills.

But it seemed that Albus was intent on surprising him over and over.

He said gently, "My dear Alastor, this may come as a shock to you, but Sirius was not their Secret Keeper. Peter Pettigrew was."

"But he told me so himself!"

"Ah yes. It was a ruse. It seems they wanted to prank Voldemort and had kept Peter as a trump card."

His heart lightened suddenly. The young man he so liked with his sense of humour and honour was not in league with Voldemort! He had never betrayed them at all!

His mood sobered quickly with the thought of Pettigrew.

"The traitor. It must have been Pettigrew then. He was the one giving up information to the other side.." He filled with hatred for the simpering man. He saw how it was, Pettigrew had always seemed to follow others - ones with more power. He was not brave and looked up to others always. He didn't have a backbone. Merlin knew how he had ended up in Gryffindor...

"Auror Moody, you could stop wasting time here and go and check out the wards and property of the Potter's. And this is extremely sensitive information so mind you don't speak to anyone, save them – the Potter's."

Alastor stared at the Minister.

"Did she really give me permission to meet the Potters and ask after them, in a disguised manner? Is this really happening?" He wondered to himself.

Still, not one to waste opportunities, he saluted, turned around and marched out.

As Alastor went out, Minister Bagnold turned to Albus.

"Do you really think the Potter boy is that powerful, as you made him out to be?" She asked bluntly.

Albus smiled faintly and rubbed his beard. "I believe that young Harry is powerful and will be a very powerful wizard…"

"But..?" the Minister prompted.

"But I do not believe him capable enough to destroy Lord Voldemort, or to revive his parents or… or… do any of the things that happened yesterday. We mustn't forget that James and Lily are very bright and maybe Lily found some arcane spell or ward that she used to protect their home."

"Hmm… Maybe? Aren't you sure?"

"Ah no. She did not seem to know anything about the ward bubble and neither did James, or Sirius for that matter, who gained entry when even I could not."

"Black gained entry?"

"Ah yes. He did. It seems that the ward let him enter. I however could not and it seemed to me that the house had disappeared."

"Like a Fidelius?"

"Hmm… yes. It was rather curiously resembling a Fidelius Charm, now that I think about it."

"Black… Is he to be trusted? After all, the Ministry does have records of Sirius Black being the Secret Keeper of the Potters and his fellow Aurors and Seniors have always reported him to be rather ruthless. Even though it did help us a lot in capturing Death Eaters, it could help the other side in a similar manner."

"I do understand your concerns, my dear Millicent, for I too felt that Sirius was acting a little odd today. Maybe, he and Peter both were involved? I do not know for sure, although I do have suspicions."

"And your suspicions are usually correct Albus. I will immediately issue a search warrant for Pettigrew and give the Aurors orders to investigate into the case of Sirius Black and the Potters."

"If I may give a suggestion Millie? I do suggest sending Alastor undercover, that is in ruse of a visit as a well wisher."

"Oh, but surely he would have reached by now?"

"Oh no, if I know Alastor, and I do believe I do, then I am positive he would have gone to the Leaky for a drink first."

"Right. I'll send him a Patronus at once." The Minister said briskly and nodded to Albus, who recognising his dismissal stood up elegantly and walked over to the Floo.

As he entered his office at Hogwarts, he greeted his pet phoenix who trilled a welcome. Then he entered his chambers to have a much needed rest.

His plans for young Harry to become the weapon to defeat Voldemort were well on track, even if a little more diplomacy than his previous plan was needed. Sirius' claims on Harry as his godfather would hopefully be neutralised due to the suspicion on him surrounding the attack on the Potters. And undercover investigations of the Potters, may very well reveal some ammunition against them, like how they ended up getting revived as it is an illegal act - to revive someone from the dead without the permission of the Ministry.

Yes, with a little diplomacy and a lot of luck, his weapon against Voldemort will be ready.

Albus Dumbledore went to bed a happier man.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

James Potter tensed as he heard the sound of someone appearing at the wards. He warily approached the front door and went outside. He approached the figure, who seemed to be casting detection spells at the surroundings and wards. James smiled slightly as he reached the figure. It was his old mentor Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.

"Hello Mad Eye. What're you doing here?"

"Hmm.. What was the first spell I tested you on Auror training?"

James rolled his eyes as he answered, "The stunning spell and I blew up the training dummy. Sirius blew a hole into the wall."

Mad Eye chuckled. "Got power on him, Black."

"Yeah, so what can I do for you?"

Mad Eye regarded him for a long moment. "Care to invite me for a drink?"

James raised an eyebrow but nodded. He led the way to the door, hearing the "thuck, thuck" of Moody's newly installed wooden clump of a leg. He winced as he remembered the condition in which he'd been brought to the Auror Headquarters that day after the ambush.

_It was a normal day so far in Auror Headquarters. There had been news of some Death Eaters torturing a muggle family. It had been reported that there were only a few of the bastards. So the Head Auror - Alastor Moody, took only a few Aurors with him, giving the others a much needed chance to recuperate. It was expected that they would be back within a few hours. _

_But six to seven hours had passed and still there was no sign of the Aurors. Then finally, a patrolling Auror rushed into the Minister's office saying that the raid had actually been an ambush and there had been a hell of a battle. The Minister immediately sent a search party consisting of the most experienced and top ranking Aurors. The scene they came to find was one of utter devastation. Not one Auror, it seemed, had survived the battle._

_As the others were staring around in horror at the bloody scene in front of them and picking up bodies of the deceased, James came upon the bloodied, disfigured and trampled body of the Head Auror Moody. He choked back a sob on recognising his face, which was a mess with one eye gone. But then he had noticed that somehow, miracle of miracles, his mentor was breathing. _

_He immediately jumped up, shouting that he was taking Moody to St. Mungos. He reverently picked up his senior's still form and then portkeyed away. Only on reaching St. Mungos and laying him on a bed in the Emergency Ward under the frantic and worried eyes of Healers, did he see how bad the Auror's condition was._

_Mangled - there was only one word for it. He had not only lost an eye but also a leg and his stomach was torn open, by a rabid animal it seemed. _

_Greyback was the only possibility. His blood boiled as he thought of the feral werewolf who had destroyed so many innocent lives, including the life of his best friend - Remus Lupin. His friend had been condemned to the life of an outcast by this deranged and psychotic creature. Greyback and his like were the main reason for the hatred, prejudice and fear the wizarding world felt for werewolves. .._

Moody's gruff voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"So Potter. Heard there'd been an attack at your house?"

Ah yes.. the inevitable topic of discussion.

"I don't suppose that this place is suitable for such a discussion."

"We are under wards Potter."

"That we are Mad - Eye, but, as you so eloquently put it, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Mad Eye glared at him. Through his scarred face, it was difficult to understand when he was glaring and when he was just looking. But right now, James was positive his mentor was glaring at him due to his joke about his mantra.

James chose to ignore Moody's affronted silence and continued to walk calmly up to the door. He opened it and waved his mentor in. He asked him to make himself comfortable and went to call Lily who was inside and, as far as he knew, playing with Harry.

Lily was in fact talking to Sirius as Harry sat on his shoulders and gurgled in delight. A flash of _some_thing passed through James, which couldn't have been jealousy since Sirius was Harry's godfather and therefore entitled to have him on his shoulders as much as he wanted. No it wasn't jealousy at all.

Nevertheless James couldn't quite see this scene anymore and so he cleared his throat.

Lily turned around and smiled (easing his feelings of the something that was _not_ jealousy) and Sirius jumped making Harry wobble and laugh even more.

James hastily plucked him away from Sirius and then said, "Padfoot, I suppose it would be better if you were to go right now. Moody's here and I am quite sure he is here to subtly interrogate us, Constant Vigilance after all."

Sirius looked a little disappointed but he just nodded and pecked Lily on the cheek, ruffled Harry's hair and grinned at James before turning around and disapparating. James looked at the spot where Sirius had vanished, trying to ease his guilt at feeling that '_something_' that was not quite jealousy; even as he vaguely decided that the wards needed to be strengthened and apparition needed to be completely blocked.

Lily touched his arm startling him out of his reverie and nodded towards the door. James gave a half-smile and walked ahead with Harry in his arms.

He reached the living room and saw Alastor looking around with an odd expression on his face. On spying him, he stopped his examinations and waited for them to come. Lily greeted Alastor who nodded back and then she went to the kitchen to get tea for them. James sat down on the sofa and waited for Alastor to speak. Half a minute before he spoke, "Heard You-Know-Who had come here."

It was a statement, yet had a subtle question and a demand for details.

"Yes, Voldemort paid us a little Halloween visit."

"I don't suppose he had come for trick-or-treating?"

"You suppose right. It clearly was not an ordinary 'wanted to wish you a Happy Halloween' visit."

"Seems that way though."

"Huh?"

"If really You-Kno... okay, _Voldemort_ had come here then I suppose there would have been some marks to indicate his presence?" _Also you wouldn't have been sitting here perfectly well without a scratch on you._

It went unsaid, but not unnoticed.

James sighed. It was clear Moody was not going to back off until he got answers.

"Well, as you know, last night Voldie .." Moody snorted before he could help himself. ".. came here intent on killing us. We were in here when he blasted off the door. For some reason the wards didn't alert us as quick as they were supposed to, or maybe he was just too quick.. or maybe it was because he knew the Secret... Whatever the reason, I was in here and on hearing him, told Lily to take Harry and go. She went up to the nursery, but couldn't apparate because of the anti apparition wards put up by him. Me and Voldie exchanged a few spells but then I got hit with an Avada. I just dropped, like..like I was asleep. The same happened with Lily upstairs. But when he turned his wand on Harry, something happened. I don't know, neither does Lily or even Dumbledore but there was a blast and Voldie got incinerated. And a weird, wonky bubble kind of thing encased the property and woke us up as if we were just sleeping. We woke up to find Sirius here crying. As we sat up, he looked shocked and fainted. Then later on reviving him he heard our side of the story and then feeling pretty overwhelmed apparated to his flat." This was the decided edited explanation of what happened that would be told to anyone apart from who they trusted, as well as the Founders.

Moody didn't say anything at first. "I.. am glad you survived Potter. You and your family." James was surprised by the emotion in his mentor's voice. He couldn't think of anything to say so remained silent.

Suddenly Moody chuckled. "Obviously I was able to drill something in your thick head so as to hold your own against Yo.. Voldemort, even for a few moments."

James chuckled at the obvious attempt to lighten the situation.

They sat in silence for a few moments when Lily came in with the tea. She smiled at Moody and then sat down taking the unusually quiet Harry from James. Alastor's eyes moved to Harry's forehead. Lily answered his unspoken question, "Yes this is where Voldemort hit him with the Killing Curse."

Moody swallowed and nodded. When he spoke his voice was unusually thick. "Got any idea how He got destroyed?"

"Not really. There's this hypothesis, the only one in fact, that Harry being traumatized unconsciously powered his accidental spell so much that it was enough to bring us back from the dead and Voldie to get destroyed." James answered.

He had to lie to his mentor though he wasn't really happy about it.

_"Be patient. His time will come. Right now he is too much in the old man's pocket. Later when the time is right, you can tell him everything."_

It was Gryffindor's voice.

James jumped violently making Lily and Moody look at him with thinly veiled panic in their eyes. He cursed Godric in his head and hastened to reassure them. "Its okay, I just.. had a ... spasm."

Moody narrowed his eyes. James gave his best innocent look possible. His eyes, if possible, narrowed even further. But just as he was about to speak, a distraction presented itself in the form of Harry. The little boy, having fallen asleep on his mother's shoulder, suddenly woke up with a start and started crying.

Lily shot a panicked glance at James - Harry hardly ever cried. He was an extremely happy and bubbly baby. But all that happiness seemed to have evaporated from him, he was wailing and all the efforts of her mother to soothe him were in vain. At last, James understood some of the almost incomprehensible blubbering coming from his child's mouth.

"Mama, dada.." *sob* "bad man come.. light come.."

James' heart was in his mouth. No parent should ever have to go through this, he thought. Seeing his child, his precious Prongslet, crying and dreaming about an attack by the most feared Dark Lord on his house; was not an experience he would care to repeat. But in his heart of hearts, he knew that this may well be a recurring nightmare of his boy. Such a traumatic event of one's life wasn't ever entirely removed from one's mind.

James stretched out his arms and Lily placed Harry in them, albeit a little reluctantly. James immediately crushed his little child in an embrace that could rival Hagrid's. Harry was still crying, but his wails sounded a little softer now. James started rocking him whispering words all the while.

"Its okay little one, its okay Prongslet. Daddy's here and the bad man has gone. Shh.. it is alright Harry.."

Hearing his words, Moody's eye widened and Lily gave a gasp. Harry stopped wailing and looked up at his father teary eyed.

"Dada ok? Mama?"

"Everyone is okay Harry. Everything is all right."

Harry looked at him for another moment, as if judging the truthfulness of the statement, before breaking into a wide beaming smile that mad James' heart leap. _His precious Prongslet was all right_.

Alastor then cleared his throat, breaking them out of their reverie.

"I'd better get going."

"Wait, Alastor. I have a few questions I'd like to ask." Lily said.

Alastor looked at her with an unreadable look before inclining his head. Lily took a deep breath before asking, "Isn't it true that the Ministry tracks magic? Especially dark magic and you know, accidental magic along with.."

"I get the idea lass."

"Right. So.. my question is that well.. since the Ministry tracks these sort of things, why didn't it send Aurors the first time Voldemort cast the Killing Curse? If they had come then, James.. he wouldn't have.. died. And then Harry would have been safe. So why didn't the Aurors come?"

Moody looked uncomfortable. "I.. Since you house was under the Fidelius, it couldn't have tracked the dark magic being cast at your home."

"Hmm.. I don't understand. Dumbledore said that he had a ward tracking the magic cast in our house and tracking our health and life force. So if he could do that even when we were under the Fidelius, then why couldn't the Ministry do the same?"

"Dumbledore had erected a ward like that? Why didn't he tell the Ministry then? Besides, why didn't he intimate us - the Order Of Phoenix to come to your aid?" Alastor looked thoughtful.

Lily and James remained silent. They could see that this was something the old Auror needed to think about himself. James' mind was running at top speed. It was very clever of Lily to start sowing the seeds of doubt in his mind like that.

Suddenly Moody said abruptly, "I need to go. Best of luck dealing with everything that happened. "

He then walked to the door and James broke out of his reverie and rushed after him.

After seeing Alastor off, he came back to see that the Founders had claimed the sofa. He caught sight of Godric lounging on his sofa with a look of amusement. His irritation spiked.

"Why didn't you give me a warning before coming into my head like that? I almost gave the game away you know.."

Godric turned to look at him.

_"Like this?"_

James jumped about a foot high. "What did you do that for?"

"To give you a warning of course." Gryffindor was looking at him as if he was stupid.

"But.. I.." James spluttered.

"And yes, I need to have a word with you about respecting elders and your language young man." He said suddenly, all Professor-like.

"I am not a kid." James muttered sullenly, while calling Godric all sorts of names in his head.

"I did ask you to censor your language Kid. Or do I need to scourgify your mouth?"

James shuddered. His father had once done that and it was not an experience he cared to repeat.

"But how did you know what I was thinking?"

"Ha! See, I can spy on you!"

Rowena rolled her eyes before replying. "We can read your thoughts dear."

"But.. but that's illegal!"

She raised an eyebrow. "You didn't let me complete. I was going to say we can read your thoughts only if we want to. No Occlumency barrier can keep us from reading your thoughts if we really want to read them. Its a sort of privilege of being dead. Also we can also speak to you telepathically. If you try broadcasting a message it would work, but only when we are in the Realm Of The Living."

"Oh."

Then Lily spoke up. "Rowena why did you tell me to ask Alastor about the magic?"

"Its a way to start undermining the long bearded idiot's authority and control on everyone. As you saw, Moody became suspicious and on going back he will ask Dumbledore all of these questions..."

"But won't that make Dumbledore suspicious?"

"Not really. Since he knows that you are one bright witch Lily." Rowena smiled and Lily blushed at the praise from the Founder of the house of wisdom.

Suddenly James spoke up. "Hey, why don't you tell us about the future now?"

The Founders turned to look at him as one. Then Slytherin spoke, "What makes you think that we are going to tell you about the future?"

"Well.. you are here to change things aren't you?"

"Yes but we already made a major change in the time stream by saving you both. So now if we tell you any more about the future, we could seriously alter events and it may lead to such a different outcome than before that we wouldn't know how to handle it."

"But.. I don't understand.." James said bemusedly.

"The Butterfly Effect." Lily said softly.

Rowena and Helga beamed at her. Gryffindor looked impressed while Slytherin.. looked bored with a hint of grudging respect.

"Huh?" was James expected response.

Lily rolled her eyes and answered. "James, there is a theory called the Chaos Theory, given by a muggle scientist named Edward Lorenz. He stated something commonly called as the butterfly effect - 'A very small change in initial conditions can create a significantly different outcome.' For example, if suppose a butterfly wanders into the house of a player and he sees it. He becomes excited and stops to capture it. He was just going out to play in a match. By stopping to capture the butterfly, he became late and thus was anxious and not properly attentive to the game. And as a result, lost the game. Thus, a butterfly was the cause of a nation's embarrassment, if it were an international game."

"So, if we were to offer you details of the future well in advance, it could create very different outcomes that may not necessarily be in our favour." Helga explained.

"I see."

"But rest assured, we are always going to offer help and guidance whenever you are in need of it."

"But.. does that mean you are going?" Lily asked stunned.

"Yes dear." Helga smiled a little sadly.

"But.. but.."

"Listen my dear. Its not as if this is the last you are seeing of us. But we also need to follow rules you know. Now we will probably see you when Harry becomes eight or nine years old. We have decided to start teaching him a few things about magic and how to control his powers. Since if we gift him his powers all at once, it ay lead to a serious backlash. So look forward for our next meeting."

James swallowed and Lily wiped her eyes surreptitiously. "We understand."

"Oh and one more thing. Who all can we tell about you?"

"Whoever you trust fully. Proper and complete trust. And remember if you are in doubt, try broadcasting a message, we'll let you know." Slytherin said.

"But you just said we can't talk to you when you are in the Realm Of The Dead?"

"Ah. But one of us is usually around. Even if not, we'd still be observing you and will come to give you a warning."

Then Gryffindor grinned, "Keep that chamomile ready for me Lily. Its going to be a long ten years without it."

Everyone burst out laughing. The founders winked and smiled one last time before disappearing with a loud boom and a blinding light, leaving Lily and James standing there staring at the spot where they'd just been.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Lucius Malfoy was not having a good day.

There were two reasons for this. The first being that his brand new emerald green robes were turning brown for he had sprayed coffee on them on reading the headline of the day's Daily Prophet. The second was the headline of the day's Daily Prophet. But since the first reason was a direct consequence of the second, one could say that there was only one reason for his bad day. He again picked up the paper after wiping his robe with a tissue.

_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Dead!_

_By Special Correspondent Rita Skeeter_

_No, my dear readers, the headline of this special report is not fake. The Dark Lord , more commonly known as You-Know-Who, the most feared dark wizard to set foot on the British soils is really dead! The reign of terror perpetrated by Him and his followers - the Death Eaters has finally come to an end. _

_The Minister offers her heartiest congratulations to all wizards and witches of the British Isles. "Now a new era of peace and harmony needs to be established and for that first we need to ensure that all supporters of the Dark Lord are rounded up and brought to justice. I ,for one, want justice served and all those brave souls who sacrificed themselves in this fight against darkness avenged. It is my sincerest hope that all of you will help the Ministry regain control and strive to restore our World to the order it demands."_

_As for who has finally rid our world of the encroaching darkness, the credit goes to Harry Potter, the one year old son of former Auror James Potter (age 21) and his wife Lily Potter (age 21) , formerly a Healer at St. Mungos, before they went into hiding._

_Yes, my dear readers, you have read correctly - a one year old child has performed this miraculous feat! The Ministry is refusing to divulge the details regarding this event, but this faithful reporter has gleaned information from different sources to serve you the best way possible. It seems that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked the house of the young Potters in Godric's Hollow on the eve of Halloween - a time reputed to be good for dark magic. The official reports say that the Potters were made unconscious by Him and young Harry killed Him on seeing his parents hurt. But the actual events are different it seems. According to Albus Dumbledore (the Headmaster Of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock) He struck the Potters dead with the Killing Curse. But it seems that young Harry on seeing his parents on the ground, sent forth such an incredible force of accidental raw magic that it blasted Him apart and... revived his parents. It seems young Harry can bring people back from the dead!_

_This reporter promises to shed light on all the confusing matters and discrepancies in the official reports. For more information on the Potters turn to page 5. For more information on rare cases of accidental magic go to page 7._

Lucius sat stunned. His master - The Dark Lord was gone? It just wasn't possible! This.. this is an outrage! How could a boy.. no a child, an infant kill his master? And what of him now? The Ministry was quite aware of his role in the war - he had taunted many an Auror during the raids. He was kicking himself (mentally of course, since a Malfoy would never do something as disgraceful as kick himself) for that now. But what to do now? This was all the fault of the Potter brat. If he hadn't done this dratted accidental magic his master would be alive right now and he would be laughingly torturing some muggle and not sitting here sweating.

What should he do? He needed to do something quick for if he didn't figure out some plan quickly, he would be whisked off to Azkaban quicker than one could say "Imperio".

Suddenly there was a flutter of wings. Lucius turned his head to see the familiar shape of an owl. Not any owl - the Nott family owl. He quickly took the note and upon reading it swore fluently and impressively. The Aurors were coming in about another few hours. Patroclus Nott was a consummate Slytherin and he had maintained his position as one of the Ministry's well wishers throughout the years. He was the inside source for the Dark Lord's plans and thus was an invaluable ally. Through careful threats and hefty bribes Lucius had secured Nott's alliance. Today that was coming in handy, but not for much longer. If he didn't get up now and figure out some plan, he could kiss goodbye to all comforts for a long, long time.

He swore as he heard his coffee cup fall to the floor and shatter into a thousand pieces, drenching his robes for the second time.

Lucius Malfoy was _really_ not having a good day.

* * *

It was a trying day for the Ministry Of Magic.

The employees of the Ministry Of Magic, incompetent at best and bumbling fools at worst, were running around like headless chickens trying to control the masses of owl posts, fireworks and greedy vultures (popularly known as reporters); that threatened to reveal the existence of the magical world. Already two groups of Obliviators had been dispatched to erase memories of a few enthusiastic bird watchers who had managed to capture a few owls and were extremely bewildered by their packages. The Aurors were raiding the manors of known Death Eaters and were trying to capture the ones that had started rioting. The secretaries of the Minister's office were trying to prevent the hordes of reporters from bugging the Minister and the Minister herself was sitting with Albus Dumbledore in her office trying to figure out as to how the Skeeter woman had found out about the Potters and what to do now.

Bagnold sighed. "Albus, many people have been trying to figure out how Rita gets her information, since she has made quite a few enemies who all would love to see her fall from grace with glee. But you are well aware that if I make the Daily Prophet remove that article and make them print a retraction, for doing that only I'll need to call in quite a few favours since the Ministry does not own a majority share of the paper, it will just make the public question the move and will draw even more attention to the Potters and this whole event. I understand that you feel for the young couple for they are going to be hounded now, but I really can't do anything more. Add in the fact that any day now my rivals would be starting a no confidence against me for letting us almost lose this bloody war; I may as well step down. I was thinking of doing it anyway. "

Dumbledore smiled sympathetically to maintain his charade of being a benevolent leader of the light while inside he was fuming. He had been hoping to conduct a private research on the Potter boy and in this way gain control of the family, but now with that goddamned article, the healers of St. Mungos and the Unspeakables would be looking to have their hands on the boy too. It would make his job much more difficult... But maybe there would be a few advantages. The Potters might come to him for help in keeping the reporters and the others away. It could be a good way to get them back under his control. Hmm.. the idea had potential.. this would merit careful research.

Well back to the topic at hand. "I see, Millie. I hope that you can get your problems sorted out. As for this problem, I shall do my best to help the Potters anyway I can. Thank you for giving me your time Minister. Do inform me on any reports on Rita Skeeter, will you?"

"Will do Albus. Give the Potters my best."

Albus smiled one last time before exiting the floo his mind working in overdrive to come up with plans and scenarios that best suited his purposes.

* * *

James and Lily Potter were currently staring in horror at the Daily Prophet, specifically at a Miss Skeeter's article, wondering how the reporters had gotten this information and what they were going to do now.

"This.. how could she get hold of this information? And the way it has been portrayed - people will come to view Harry as a remedy to all their problems! St. Mungos might start an investigation into this! It'll all end up in chaos!" Lily cried.

James tried to soothe her fears. "Lily, relax. We are Harry's parents and we have the final say in whatever he does, at least until he becomes old enough to make his own decisions."

"But James, what if the Ministry forces us?'

"We will ask for help from the Founders. With Salazar's cunning, Rowena's intelligence, Godric's absurd out-of-the-box ideas and Helga's penchant for character analysis; we will come up with a brilliant plan."

Lily stared at him. After a moment James began to feel uncomfortable since Lily never showed any kind of adoration towards him, said that he would get a big head.

"What?" he asked finally.

"I didn't know you were capable of thinking this much." Lily said amused. "Who are you and what have you done to James?"

"Bloody hell woman, you have got to make a compliment sting as much as possible don't you?" James grumbled.

She laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder snootily. "Of course my dear husband, after all someone needs to stop you becoming a big headed prat."

James mock growled. "Now you are going to get it."

Lily's eyes widened. "No.. no tickling! NO! JAMES! Argh.. stop..haha.. it! I said STOP! Haha..."

"Stop what?" James asked innocently, still tickling Lily mercilessly.

"Stop.. tickling me!" Lily gritted her teeth.

"Oh! Then why didn't you just say so?"

Lily's eyes narrowed and James thought it prudent to go and hide out in the bushes before Lily murdered him.

"James Charlus Potter! You come back here right now!"

"I'll see you in a while Lilykins! The flowers need watering!"

Lily just shook her head in fond exasperation at her husband's rapidly retreating back.

* * *

Severus Snape was feeling... odd.

He was currently sitting in the midst of his horrified colleagues in a staff meeting at Hogwarts. He usually skipped these as he was just an assistant to the Potions professor Horace Slughorn as of now, (he would become the Professor after the year ended), and thus was not a faculty member per say, but this was a compulsory meeting and every member of the school staff ranging from himself to that oaf Hagrid, had been required to attend.

The reason for this was, as revealed by the Headmaster just now, that The Dark Lord had attacked Lily and Potter and his spawn. Yet, somehow, they had escaped unharmed. Well, not exactly unharmed as it seemed that Lily and Potter had _died_ and then somehow, Potter's spawn had done accidental magic and revived them.

Snape was a jumble of feelings and, he was ashamed to admit, even his Occlumency barriers weren't able to restore his impressively blank mask. He was feeling thankful and very happy that Lily had survived; a little disappointed that Potter had too, though it was Potter's spawn that he had the most trouble deciding what he felt. There was hatred, for he was Potter's and _Lily's_ sprog; but there was also a strange sort of gratitude for reviving Lily, which made it hard to hate him with the earlier intensity. There was also anger at The Dark Lord who had told him that he would do his best to make sure that no harm came to Lily, provided she cooperated and let him kill her sprog. But then came a sort of resigned, helpless feeling as he realised the fact that Lily wouldn't have just stood aside and let The Dark Lord kill her son. She was a fighter and would have fought, tooth and nail, to ensure that her son survived.

Then he drove back his wandering attention to the meeting at hand. "... so happy that James and Lily and baby Harry survived!" McGonagall was wiping her eyes and Pomfrey and Sprout were openly crying tears of joy.

Snape heaved a disgusted sigh. He thought longingly of the bottle of Ogden's sitting in the cabinet under his desk. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Peter Pettigrew was afraid. He had had a master plan in place. He would divulge the location of James and Lily to his master, his master would kill them, laugh insanely and then award him the honour of being his right hand man. And Peter would have taken care of Sirius by framing him as the Secret Keeper of the Potters by sending a letter with the required details to Amelia Bones (Head of the DMLE and a friend of James and Lily's) as a concerned anonymous party, and no Death Eater would have the inclination to go to the Ministry and correct the record.

But his plan lay in shambles. Somehow, Harry Potter had killed his master (killed him!) and revived James and Lily (revived them!).

This led to him running as a rat in the dirty, smelly sewers of London. His plan to frame Sirius and put him in Azkaban had died an ironic death - now it seemed that if the DMLE got wind of his location, he would be the one in Azkaban.

His only hope of survival was to find a wizarding family that hopefully wouldn't kill him on sight and would give him a proper home, since he wasn't going to live in the sewers illegal rat animagus or not.

Peter, or rather Wormtail, squeaked in fright as a humongous rat glared at him. As he started running in the opposite direction, his only thought was - the sooner he got away, the better.

* * *

Augusta Longbottom sighed as she folded the newspaper. Folding her hands in her lap, she thought about the war which had finally ended today. After long years of fighting, today they were free of the menace that was the dark monster. She had always imagined that if the day when the war would end would come to pass in her lifetime, she would be overjoyed and would throw a function that would be reminiscent of the grand pureblood functions she had attended in her youth. But today, when the war had ended, it felt.. surprisingly quite anti-climatic. Almost everybody had imagined Lord Voldemort to fall to a bunch of Aurors in Diagon Alley, or the Ministry Atrium or some other public place. And now, here it was, the most feared dark wizard to ever live had fallen at the hands of a one year old child (a miraculous child, no doubt, but a child nonetheless) in his nursery. It was.. unsettling to say the least.

She sighed again and stood up to go and give the news to her son and his wife. A fond smile lessened the severity of her aristocratic face as she thought of her young son and his family.

As she was going ahead though, the floo flared and Albus Dumbledore's head popped out.

"Albus!" she said surprised.

"Hello Augusta. I see you've gotten the news." he said nodding to the Daily Prophet in her hand.

She looked at the headline once again and nodded. Albus smiled. Then he said, "Well, I suppose you all are out of danger now... So, you can remove the Fidelius today. I also think its advisable since today due to all the chaos, no one would pay attention to a cottage suddenly becoming visible in the middle of the wilderness."

"Oh? And what do I need to do, being the Secret Keeper?"

"Hm.. you just transfer the secret to Alice and Frank and then they will cast the charm. It was in the book that I gave them to study about the Fidelius Charm. Ask Alice to do the charm as it is amazingly complex, and apart from Lily, she was the best in charms in their year at Hogwarts."

"Right. The charm to transfer the secret is in there too?"

"Yes. I fear I must attend to my other duties. Good day Augusta."

Augusta nodded back at him as his head disappeared from the fire.

"Frank!" she called.

"Yes mum?" She could hear her son's footsteps coming up the stairs.

She met him halfway and gave him the news. As was to be expected, Frank was stunned at first and then he whooped in joy (a habit which she severely disapproved of) and took off to tell Alice. Augusta shook her head and followed at a more sedate pace.

Downstairs she found Alice and Frank locked in a passionate embrace as they celebrated the end of the war in their own way. She looked at the scene in front of her and was reminded of herself and Gerald. Her husband, an Auror worth his weight in gold, had been a strict man. Yet for her, he was very devoted and loving. She lost herself thinking of the good old days, before the war had stolen her Gerald away from her during a raid. She shook herself and cleared her throat to remind the young couple in front of her about the necessity of breathing.

Alice and Frank jumped apart and went red. Augusta was close to chuckling but she maintained her stern façade with an effort. It wouldn't do for them to figure that she was not as against public displays of affection as she seemed to be.

"So, now that you are quite.. finished.. I need to transfer the Secret to you so you can remove the Fidelius."

"Is it wise to do it today itself? I mean shouldn't we wait a few days?"

"Albus has himself advised us to do it today, on account of the mayhem removing attention from the cottage suddenly becoming visible in the middle of nothing. "

"Oh. Right. What's the charm to transfer the secret?"

Alice was already flipping through _The Fidelius and its Secrets._ "Here it is!"

_"Ecce tibi onus meorum - unam iuratus tueri. Ita dico: sic volo, sic fiat!" _Augusta intoned as a bright white light enveloped her, Frank and Alice. Suddenly she felt as if a great load had been taken off her and she was free. On looking at them she could see both Alice and Frank's shoulders had sagged a little as if they had just been burdened with something - which they had.

"I should be getting back to the manor to prepare for your arrival. You should remove the Fidelius now, and start packing your things." She nodded at both and swept over to the floo. With a call of "Longbottom Manor!" and a rush of green flames, she was gone.

"C'mon Frank. I will remove the Fidelius until then you pack your things. Oh and look after Neville!"

"Of course I will! What kind of father do you take me for?" said Frank outraged.

Alice laughed and walked away, leaving Frank to grumble and trail behind.

* * *

Lily was humming to herself as she cooked. Suddenly she felt a prickle of unease. Something was either happening or going to happen. But what?

She turned off the gas stove and leaned against the counter racking her brain for any supposed attacks or problems today. The Founders hadn't told them anything more had they? Salazar had stated the Butterfly Effect as the reason for not telling them anything more about the future.. but there was something... Something they had said in their first meeting..

Lily's face drained of all colour as she remembered.

* * *

It was chaos.

Screams, shouts, cackles and cries assaulted James' ears as him and Lily apparated to Alice and Frank's cottage with Augusta Longbottom in tow. They had been told by Augusta that the Fidelius had been removed when they had apparated to Longbottom Manor (after fighting off the hordes of reporters milling around their house) for the secret. Hearing that, James and Lily's fears had been confirmed. As soon as Augusta got to know about their fear, she had apparated with them to the cottage to find it aflame and see Alice and Frank being tortured relentlessly.

Augusta screamed and started forward but James caught her arm. "Let me go! That's my son that.. that bastard is torturing!"

"I know. But Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange are major threats. We need to be careful, lest we suffer the same fate as Alice and Frank! Listen, we have the element of surprise and that's all that can help us. Because if we engage them in a direct fight, we shall be overwhelmed. We are three and they are four as Alice and Frank aren't in any condition to fight. Also Bella is a psychotic bitch who will have no qualms about playing dirty. So lets hide in these bushes and first drop Rabastan and that other blonde guy who are playing with Neville. Since they are out of sight of Bella and her husband, they shouldn't be alerted to the fact that we are here. Then we'll take on Rodolphus and that bitch."

A teary eyed Augusta and Lily nodded determinedly. The three of them hid in the bushes. James took out his mirror and gave it to Lily with instructions to call Sirius. They needed all the backup they could get. Lily didn't protest and cast a silencing ward around the three of them to mask her sounds, which wouldn't have been heard above Alice's screams any way. But still better to be cautious, James reasoned.

He nodded to Augusta and said, "At three. You get the blonde one and I'll do Rabastan."

She nodded back grimly. "One, two, three - Stupefy!"

Their targets dropped to the ground like rag dolls. Suddenly there was a pop as Sirius apparated in their hiding place.

"Ow! Get off my hand Sirius, you lump."

"Oh sorry Lily, didn't see you there. So who are we taking down? My crazy cousin?"

"Yes. We dropped Rabastan and his accomplice just a moment before. Should be easy .."

"No. I can detect ta ward to alert them if any spell comes their way, surrounding Bella and Rodolphus. Any spell we send, will be blocked and we will have their attention." Lily cut him off.

"Oh, so what do we do?" Augusta said worried.

Sirius smiled a sharp smile that was all teeth. "Do we have to send a spell?"

**A/N: Translation of the charm - "I hereby transfer my burden to you - the one I was sworn to protect. So I speak, so I intend, so mote it be!"**


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

James coudn't comprehend the sight in front of him.

Alice and Frank - both always so alive and full of vitality and humour and laughter.. they were lying so - so still. So silent.

Lily had tears running down her face as she clutched Alice's hand and Sirius was looking at the scene with horrified realisation in his eyes. But it was Augusta who looked the most heart-wrenching. The normally stoic lady's slight frame shook with barely supressed sobs as she tried to cover her eyes to not see the unbelievable scene in front of her.

James couldn't look anymore. The solemn atmosphere was stifling - the silence was stifling - silence when earlier with Alice and Frank around, you didn't get silence. There used to be no silence - only laughter. And now it had disappeared. The laughter had been replaced with sobs.

They had rescued Frank and Alice by throwing stones at the Lestranges to counter the shield that prevented any spell from reaching them. (one brick aimed at his head by Sirius had dropped Rodolphus Lestrange like a stone.) And it was such an ingenious idea and so simple that it hadn't come to any of their minds except Sirius', cause Sirius was weird that way. Weird or brilliant, whichever way you looked at it.

Anyway they had been sure that Alice and Frank would make a recovery because they hadn't been kept under the curse for as long as they had been in the original timeline. But now, the healers said that they weren't especially hopeful and the nurses had started to treat them as if they were already at death's door. It was frustating and horrifying and chilling - to see the lengths to which Death Eaters would go to get what they wanted. They had learnt later on, after capturing the Lestranges and Crouch Junior (he still couldn't comprehend that it had been Barty Crouch's son of all people who had been a Death Eater) that the psychotic couple had decided to attack him and Lily after the Longbottoms for information about the whereabouts of their Lord, in case they - the Longbottoms didn't have it.

James sighed as he leaned against the wall of the hospital ward. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. He had to do something, anything. But what? Maybe.. the Founders could help?

_Rowena?_

No answer.

_Rowena Ravenclaw? Godric Gryffindor? Salazar Slytherin? _

No answer.

_Helga Hufflepuff? _

Finally he could detect something. Some sort of presence was trickling in, though it seemed a little distracted. He decided to call again.

_Helga? Helga Hufflepuff? Helga are you listening? _

Now the presence was more.. solid. James decided to try again and this was the last time he would do so.

_Helga I need your help. Please respond._

Finally a connection.

_James? You need help? I am sorry, I was a little.. distracted._

_I noticed. Helga surely you know about what happened to Alice and Frank..?_

_Ah yes_. Her tone was full of sadness. James swallowed.

_Could you.. I mean is there.. do you know of any spell, potion, herb or plant or... anything really, that can help them? I mean, I knew that there was going to be this attack on them and I... if only we had arrived earlier, maybe we could have.. maybe they would have been alright. I want.. no, I need to know if you know anything Helga please. Anything that will help even a little bit, please._

Helga was silent for a long moment. As James began to lose hope, she sighed.

_Alright James. I think I may know of something that can help, though I cannot be sure as the Cruciatus hadn't been invented back in my time. But maybe the herb hellebore can help. It was used to heal insanity and maybe, just maybe it'll help? I cannot be sure at this point. I will have to consult Rowena for any sort of spell or potion that she may know. Maybe Salazar could offer a potion too... I do not know._

_Thank you Helga. But maybe Rowena or Salazar could give the instructions to Lily, or you could talk to Lily about possible restorative herbs and she would be.. she could invent a potion or revive a lost one that can help them? Because, I well, I am no good at potions - it was hard enough brewing the ones that Slughorn set us, forget inventing something. And Lily - she'll be happy to find out that she can do something to help her friends._

James bit his lip. He knew it was a long shot, especially since the healers didn't have much hope, but he had to try. At least for Lily's sake. And this project could help her get out of the depressed state she was surely going to be in.

_Do not despair James. I will talk to Salazar and we may be able to come up with something. By the way, having baby Neville to take care of may also help Lily. And it would surely help Augusta as she would not be able to deal with her grief and an orphaned grandson. It resulted in a... damaged... upbringing for young Neville in the last timeline. And I will talk to Lily about potential herbs, do not worry. Now, I will take your leave, but not for long._

James nodded and he felt the presence recede from his mind, giving him one last reassuring pat on the back. Her touch exuded the warm feeling of parental concern - something James had not felt for a very long time - ever since his parents had died in his seventh year at Hogwarts.

But this was no time for mourning for what had been lost. They had to look forward and work on getting rid of these roadblocks that fate kept sending at them and continue on their journey in life.

James Potter squared his shoulders. He had a wife to comfort.

Bartemious Crouch, the best leader of the DMLE, on the way to becoming the Minister Of Magic had just had his hopes and dreams crushed. And by whom? By his idiotic, moronic fool of a son! What did he hope to achieve by joining The Dark Lord? Power? Prestige? His approval? And what was more, his son did this when he KNEW about his hatred for all things Death Eater!  
Well, he was not going to get any of those things. All he had done was bring shame upon the family name - like he had done since he was a child. He had never made his father proud, never done anything to make Crouch Sr. feel happy about him. And now that idiot boy had ruined all chances of his father ever becoming the Minister for Magic. And he had been so close too! And now, it was possible - hell, it was unofficially confirmed that he was going to be shunted down!

He had given that boy chance after chance and he had thrown it all away for a few moments of power. He had let him go with just a slap when he had been made a lowly prefect, rather than Head Boy like his father. He also hadn't taken out his anger at his son, when he had not gotten perfect O's. But this time - this time he had gone too far. And this time he wasn't going to give in to anyone. His son, no not his son - that _boy _was going to pay for ruining his father.

Remus Lupin slid to the ground in shock.

His brain was numb. He had just returned from an Order mission in France on getting the news that Voldemort was gone. He, however, hadn't gotten any details from the people around as there were a lot of rumours flying around and as of now, it was foolishness to trust anybody. So he came back, expecting to celebrate with the Potters, Sirius and Peter and a few of their Order friends. He had not been expecting anything even remotely close to what he had now learnt from Dumbledore.

He had come to Hogwarts first of all to give his report regarding his mission and also to find out what the hell was going on. He found Dumbledore almost immediately - he seemed to be going to his office and on meeting Remus at the gates, he invited him along. On reaching his office he offered him the customary lemon drop and then proceeded to invite Remus to take a seat.

"Professor what the hell is going on? I was in the country surveying the area as you had told me to, when I hear reports of Voldemort going missing and some reports about James and Lily being...dead and then them being alive again and something about Sirius going to Azkaban and... and Harry being the new Dark Lord and all sort of nonsense! I don't..."

"Remus, my boy, breathe."

Remus took a deep breath and stopped his tirade. He looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

"Ah, yes that's better. Now, I shall endeavour to answer your questions. As to Voldemort going missing, yes that is true.." Remus opened his mouth. ".. and I would appreciate you not interrupting me right now." He snapped his mouth shut.

"Right. So yes, Lord Voldemort was vanquished, defeated, destroyed - whatever you want to say. And yes James and Lily were dead, but when little Harry defeated Voldemort he let out a lot of raw magic which somehow allowed his deceased parents to return to the mortal plane. And since then, the magical world has been in chaos - the Death Eaters have defected with some pledging revenge - as you have no doubt heard of the Lestranges torturing the young Longbottoms." Remus gave a shocked gasp, but Dumbledore didn't allow him to speak.  
"People have taken to the streets celebrating and hailing young Harry as a hero for getting rid of Voldemort. The press is dying to get a statement from the Potters, but till now they have successfully fended them off and more recently they were trying to assist the Longbottoms and had been successful in apprehending Bellatrix and the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. " Remus made a strangled sound at the name Crouch.  
"Now, I know you must be eager to see James and Lily. Go and meet them Remus - they are in St. Mungos in the Spell Damage Ward with Alice and Frank and Augusta."

Remus stood up with wobbly legs and walked towards the floo - his mind whirling with whatever had happened. Merlin! To think that young Harry could have... and James and Lily they had been dead and theat means Peter was the spy in the Order.. and oh Merlin's saggy socks! He had thought Sirius had been the spy - and he had been an arse to him! And oh no.. he had been giving Peter information about the werewolf packs he had been meeting - and that is why the Death Eaters had prior knowledge of so many of the alliance meeting the packs had held. He really needed to meet Sirius and apologise for his lack of trust in him. And as for James and Lily - Merlin, what must they be going through? Attacked, died, resurrected, battled and seen two friends lose their sanity. And with Lily's temper and sensitivity and James's devotion to his friends - the Death Eaters must have had a hell of a time.  
_I need to be there for them.  
_"St. Mungos!"

Lily seemed to be in a stupor as James led her by her shoulders to their bedroom. Harry was safely asleep in his room and Sirius and Remus were sitting in the living room awaiting his return. He had decided that Lily needed to rest as she was so grief stricken by the loss of her best friend. Well almost loss.

When James reached the living room after tucking Lily in and giving her a dreamless sleep potion, he heard Remus apologising.

"...'m so sorry Sirius, I..I had no idea that Peter.. no Wormtail - that.. that rat was the spy..and.."

"Shut up Moony. Its not like you are the only one to blame. I made suspecting me a lot easier for you by acting so weirdly around you - 'cause I suspected you myself. Peter - that asshole - he kept on saying things like how werewolves were dark creatures and so many werewolves had joined Voldemort but of course you would never join - and I..I felt so smug when I finally 'figured out' that you must have been the spy, cause of course Peter - foolish simpering Peter would have never come to the right conclusion despite having all the information and therefore whatever he thought must be wrong or incomplete and so you.. I'm so sorry Moony, I.."

Suddenly Remus cut him off by pulling him into a manly hug. Sirius returned it.

James couldn't help but smile. He had never suspected either of them (or any of he three actually) and he had been going off his nut for days since the tension levels had been at an all time high and he had to listen to their idiotic theories as to how the other was the spy and how he, James was blindede by his love... Well. Now that would stop.

After a moment he saw that they had separated and were now trying to look macho and failing pretty miserably. James cleared his throat and entered. Sirius jumoed about a mile high. Remus didn't even flinch, he must have heard him coming - damn his werewolfy ears.

"How long have you been listening?"

"Well, since Sirius started apologising." James admitted sheepishly.

"Didn't anyone tell you that it was rude to eavesdrop?" Sirius muttered.

"You know me, since when have I cared about manners?" James shot back.

Remus shook his head and said, "Okay, enough. Merlin James what did Harry _do_? Accidental magic that can wake up the dead? How powerful _is_ your son?"

James and Sirius exchanged a look. Oh dear.  
Remus still didn't know the truth and he believed Dumbledore's version of the events. _And_ the werewolf respected the old headmaster almost to the point of worshipping.  
To tell him the truth now... things could get messy.

James sighed. "Moony... actually, uh, Harry didn't do any accidental magic. We uh, we weren't really dead, I mean we were, but we weren't too."

Remus was beginning to look horribly confused.

Sirius gave James a look, and said pointedly, "The beginning James. Use that Gryffindor courage you've got buried in you somewhere."

James sighed again. "Ok Remus you'd better sit down 'cause if you don't your legs might give away and you'll sit on the floor then."

Remus sat, looking apprehensive.

"Ok, so what happened is..."


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

"Harry, wake up."

"Mmphh. Five more minutes mum..."

"Harry, wake up now, it's already late."

"'S not late... I'm sleepy..."

"Harry, wake up now or we will leave you alone here while we go and meet Neville."

"WE ARE GOING TO SEE NEVILLE?"

"No shouting! And yes we are."

"WE ARE GOING TO SEE NEVILLE! WE ARE GOING TO SEE NEVILLE! WE ARE GOING..."

"Yes yes! That's enough of bouncing on your bed young man. Go and brush your teeth. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."

A black haired, red pyjamas clad blur rushed past Lily and she shook her head in fond exasperation.

She turned to see her husband standing at the door grinning at her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Ready already? Fast."

"I have to go and meet my godson! Of course I am ready! You are the one who's making us late!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Like father, like son. Heaven help me!"

James grinned in a goofy sort of way before rushing downstairs with Lily calling after him to not run down the stairs.

A rushed breakfast of eggs and bacon later, the Potters found themselves in front of Longbottom Manor - the residence of the Matriarch of House Longbottom, Dowager Lady Augusta Longbottom and her little grandson - the Heir to the House Longbottom Neville Francis Longbottom.

Taking into consideration the fact that only two people were living in the big ancestral property, James and Lily had tried to convince Augusta of either moving in with them or shifting to another smaller house, like the one Alice and Frank had hidden in. But she had refused saying that the manor was filled with memories of her dear Gerald and Frank and her daughter in law Alice. She did not want to be separated from them.  
Neville's parents Alice and Frank Longbottom had been cursed by the Lestranges and Crouch Junior after the defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort by little Harry. They were visited regularly by both the Potters and the remaining Longbottoms. But they were only able to recognize them and could not produce any kinds of recognizable sounds or any meaningful gestures that would provide them with any kind of clue as to their mental conditions. Lily had been trying to research a potion or a charm or any kind of cure for them, but with taking her masteries in charms and potions, her progress on the cure was coming along slowly.

It had been feared by the Founders that in absence of his parents' influence, Neville could grow up to be a shy young man, afraid of his grandmother and little more than a squib due to his low confidence. But his Uncle James and Auntie Lily and taken on the role of pseudo parents pretty well and young Neville had grown up to be a confident young boy of seven, who proudly displayed a lot of proficiency at accidental magic and a young master in training in the noble art of pranking. James, Sirius and Remus being uncles of the child, had thoroughly coached him on the how's, why's and when's of pranking. This lesson was constantly a source of irritation for both Lily and Augusta.

Like today.

"NEVILLE FRANCIS LONGBOTTOM! What is the meaning of this?"

A snigger was heard and the sound of a fist bump came from behind the curtain.

Lily, her bullshit detector tingling, called out, "Harry? Harry James! What have you been up to now?"

Augusta stormed out from inside, her face a mixture of anger and exasperation. "The little miscreants have changed my vulture top hat into a parrot one! And my red handbag into a purple and green spotted monstrosity!"

James choked back a laugh. Lily shot him a look and plastered a look of sympathy on her face, though privately she thought that any kind of bird hat was better than the vulture topped hat of the strict matriarch. But who was she to tell anything to Augusta Longbottom?

"Alright boys come out from behind that curtain – joke's over! And I hope you are sorry for what you've done!"

The two came out looking appropriately abashed and shuffling their feet. "We're sorry Gran, we won't do it again!" Neville said.

"We promise!" Harry nodded his head fervently.

Augusta humphed and said "I'll believe that when I see it!"

Suddenly an owl came winging its way through the open window. It headed straight for Augusta and hooted. She relieved it of its parcel and offered him an Owl Treat that she kept in a box on the mantelpiece for this very purpose. The owl hooted happily before beginning to chew its reward.

"Oh dear Merlin – there's a Wizengamot meeting today."

"Oh no, not again! We just had one two weeks ago! What could have arisen that is of so much importance?"

"No doubt, Fudge's inane undersecretary wants something done."

Then another owl came into the room bearing the missive from the Wizengamot – this time heading for James. He took the message but didn't bother reading it.

"When is it scheduled for?"

"At... 12 noon. That is... oh just a little more than an hour from now."

"An hour? Well I suppose we must get ready. Merlin I hate those purple heavy robes - they make me itch in places I can't even scratch in public." James groaned. Lily stifled a laugh at both James' words and Augusta's disapproving and almost sick expression.

At the sound of Lily's laugh, James turned to her. Then looked apologetic. "Diagon Alley will have to wait for now Lils."

She smiled, "That's alright. It'll give me a chance to punish these two miscreants here."

Harry and Neville exchanged worried looks. "Mum, we'll be good, we promise. Don't we Nev?"

"Yeah Auntie Lily, this was the last time we are gonna pull a prank!"

"Nevertheless boys, you have been instructed not to do it again and again but it hasn't made any difference onto you it seems. Taking away flying privileges isn't enough anymore. So you'll have to make do with no Diagon Alley trips for a whole month."

James sighed. Lily was a wonderfully kind and gentle with everyone and on every matter - except for pranking. She had gotten it into her head to 'correct' the two kids' mischievous ways.  
But James couldn't do anything about that now except to buy the two an ice cream for a well executed prank later.

Lily sat in the living room and contemplated the cloth in front of her. It could be passed off as a scarf she thought, but someone would have to be really desperate to even consider using it as a cap like Harry had intended. She huffed out a laugh as she stared at the pitiful attempt at a sock by Neville. She decided that knitting was a perfectly acceptable punishment for the two of them, and while they no doubt would have preferred a lecture to the long afternoon of sitting and knitting, they could deal with it, since it was a punishment and punishments weren't supposed to be fun. It was a novel method, she thought proudly, of shutting the two up long enough to give her some peace. She loved the two scamps with all her heart but Merlin knew they drove her round the bend.

It had been just an hour since she had taken pity on the two and sent them up after a stern talking to. She knew it wouldn't have made much of an impression – James, Sirius and Remus had corrupted them too much for it to have, but she liked to think that it had least done enough to make them think twice about any pranks in the near future. The relative silence from upstairs, punctuated only by occasional murmurs seemed to be a testament to the effectiveness of today's punishment.

She got up restless, wondering when James and Augusta would be back and wishing she had something to do. She didn't – well okay she did have the potion for Alice and Frank and her studies for her Charms Mastery and also her essay on the use of potions versus charms for her Healer training, but she didn't want to do any of that at the moment. She supposed she could read a book from the Library, Merlin knew the Potter Library was big enough to keep her busy for years and she had only explored a small portion of it, but she craved company – female company. She missed the days when Alice, Mary, Marlene and herself would just spend a whole day roaming through markets trying out ridiculous outfits or hairstyles and talk for hours – just spend the whole day relaxing. She missed the Friday night get-togethers and the Saturdays spent having fun before giving up the whole of the Sunday to schoolwork for the whole week.

Lily let out a gusty breath before scolding herself. "Mary and Marlene are dead, the only one left beside you is Alice and she as well might be if you don't get a move on and perfect the potion you hope will revive her and Frank."

"You still haven't been able to perfect it?"

Lily jumped about a mile high and spun around with her wand already in her hand ready to blast away any threat she might encounter. She saw a pale apparition leaning against the kitchen counter 'her' hands folded with a smirk-cum-smile on her face.

"Rowena!"

**A/N: Hello! I know I haven't updated for Merlin knows how long and I think many people might have just given up on this story. But I assure you its going to be completed. Someday. Not soon. I'm sorry but I'm in my last year of schooling with the entrances for colleges just a few months away and I need to be focused on studying right now and my grades ae not all that great making the pressure almost unbearable - thus giving me almost no time for writing. But fear not, I'll be back soon I hope with better chapters and more action. I know this story is rather bad compared to others out there and I'll get around to improving the first few chapters someday... which is not today. **  
**Regardless. There was a change in this chapter which a few of you might have noticed - I've written Lily is undergoing Healer training while in a previous chapter I've mentioned that Lily was an Unspeakable. It occurred to me that my Lily is a pretty family oriented person and amicable while Unspeakables would probably tend to be rather eccentric and stand offish - in part due to their profession and the secrets they have to keep. So I decided to change Lily's profession and made her a Healer. Also, I had no clue as to what Lily could do as an Unspeakable. And I am going to change Lily's profession in the previous chapter as well. **

**That's it for now and I promise I'll be back with the next chapter (which is already in progress) someday. Thanks for putting up with me. **  
**Cheers,**  
**blimey2310 :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

"Rowena! Don't _do_ that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Reminds you of the day we met first doesn't it?" She smiled.

Lily smiled back. "Come sit down, I know it doesn't much matter to you, but still I would prefer it to you standing."

Rowena came over into the room and sat down on the couch. "How are you and James?"

"We're fine."

"And little Harry?"

"Not so little anymore. Him and Neville – I love them both to bits, but I swear they'll be the death of me one day."

Rowena chuckled lightly. "Little kids do seem to make a lot of trouble."

They were both silent for a minute. Then Lily asked, "So... what brings you here?"

Rowena shifted. Being dead, she mustn't have been uncomfortable with the seating arrangements as she couldn't exactly feel them, so it must have been her question that had made her uncomfortable. It made Lily apprehensive.

"Are you here because of the ritual that Harry was to undergo?"

Rowena seemed startled. "I – yes, as a matter of fact I am. Harry is almost eight now and the time comes ever closer when we stated that he was to undergo the Ritual of Honorary Heirship. But... there's been a complication."

"A complication."

"Yes. Well, you are aware of parallel realities and alternate worlds existing Lily? There can be infinite alternate worlds that differ from each other minutely. There was one such world which was just a few weeks ahead of this one. That is to say whatever took place there would also take place here, until now."  
She paused here, looking at Lily. Lily kept her face impassive and when Rowena didn't start, she gestured with her hand in the universal sign for _go on_.

"So as I said a few weeks ahead. So we, that is to say the _'Founders'_ of that world, went ahead with the ritual for the heirship. And the results were... unexpected."

She took a deep breath. "Harry, that is to say the Harry of that world became a little... uh... unhinged."

"Unhinged." Lily repeated. "My little boy went insane you mean to say."

"Insane is not quite how I would have put it but..."

"No, of course not. You would put it as unhinged." Lily said calmly.

"Uh yes." Rowena said thrown by the lack of Lily's famous fiery temper.

"So just let me get the facts straight. You, that is to say the four Founders, wanted to let my son, my _little seven year old lovely son_, undergo an _experimental_ ritual that was supposedly safe, but you hadn't tested it so it couldn't have been, but let's ignore that point. So a ritual that was _supposedly_ safe but actually _wasn't_ and we would have found out about its consequences _much_ _too_ _late_."

"The ritual _is_ safe Lily, it was just the aftermath that…"

"I don't care if it was the bloody ritual _or_ its aftermath. All I know is that my little baby boy would have become _insane_ because of the actions of FOUR MEDDLESOME FOOLS!" Lily roared.

Rowena's visage became icy cold. She stiffened in her 'seat'.  
"Keep in mind who you are talking to Mrs. Potter. I understand that your maternal instincts are flaring but _your_ child is _not_ in danger. The ritual was tested and the results have been obtained regardless of whether they were as per our wishes or not. I am here merely as a courtesy to inform you of the consequences if we proceed with the ritual. Do keep in mind that we, that is to say the 'Founders', need not have graced you with our presence at all and could have merely manipulated you into doing our bidding…"

"But we would never have done that would we now?" Another voice cut off Rowena's tirade. Lily was surprised out of her rising fury at the spiel she was being subjected to.  
She turned to see Hufflepuff looking at Ravenclaw warningly. Ravenclaw sniffed imperiously and turned away. Lily crossed her arms. She didn't care about their reasons; no one was going to hurt her boy!

She waited. She knew Hufflepuff would speak soon enough.

"Lily, I understand, really I do understand your fear and anger. I also understand that we may not be welcome here anymore, but please, before we leave we need to let you know why. And also, if you and James are amenable to it, what further steps we could take."

Lily's voice was sharp. "Do you really understand my fear _Lady Hufflepuff_? _Do you really_?!"

Hufflepuff closed her eyes. When she opened them her eyes were misty.  
"I cannot profess to understand your fears exactly my dear, but I do understand the pain of losing a child to someone you trusted, _loved_ even." She shuddered once, but then composed herself, shaking herself out from a long ago memory.

The fire went out of Lily.  
_She understood_.  
Helga really truly understood what she was feeling. It wasn't necessarily the ritual that would have stolen Harry from her though that was a major part of her fear, but the anger also stemmed from the feeling of betrayal she was experiencing – she had trusted the Founders and they had, or had been about to break her trust irrevocably.  
She collapsed, boneless, on the couch. Seeing her collapse, Helga came to her side immediately to offer whatever comfort she could and Rowena hovered uncertainly on the side.

"I can't, Helga, I will not allow you to make my son a ravening lunatic. You did… what you did was... _is_ unforgivable." Lily said, closing her eyes.  
Despite her being mere vapour, Lily felt Helga flinch and opened her eyes a crack.

But it was Rowena who said, "Lily your child is safe. He is sane and safe, playing upstairs with his friend, who I must say, seems to be much happier than in the previous timeline due to your and James's efforts."

"My child is safe sure, but there is a Lily and a James who are distraught over the loss of their child... And despite, that other Harry not being mine, I can't help but feel that somehow, I am going to lose my child to the same fate... like the other Lily did... And again, despite knowing you four couldn't possibly have known about this effect, I can't help but – I can't trust you anymore, not right now at least."

Rowena and Helga both flinched. They were saved from answering however by the sound of the parlour door opening and they turned to see James. He stopped midstride as he took the both of them in, and said, "I sure am making a habit of arriving to a scene like this."

His eyes landed on Lily and his brows furrowed. "What happened Lils?" He said walking up to her side.

Lily lifted her head tiredly and replied, "Deal with them on your own for once and see what happens to you. I'm getting rather annoyed at you for bailing out whenever trouble comes knocking."

James raised an eyebrow and turned to regard the suddenly shifty looking older 'ladies'. Helga met his eyes and pointed at Rowena, mouthing '_Her fault._'  
Rowena looked indignant and opened her mouth to reply but then closed it with an anguished and indecisive look at the still immobile Lily.

"You can speak you know. I promise I won't blow up." Lily's voice was muffled from the position of her head resting on her arms, but her annoyed tone was perfectly clear in making her point.

Rowena however shook her head. "We're truly sorry Lily for the terrible news we have delivered today. I can only hope you will forgive us and... especially me for our – _my_ actions... Also, though we do not deserve it, I just hope that you can give us a second chance - a chance to at least explain things. If you feel you can indulge these _four meddlesome fools_ once again, just send a message to us, we'll be waiting."

She and Helga nodded at James, looked once at Lily who remained with her head bowed and then vanished.

James looked at his wife and decided that tea, perhaps laced with a Calming Draught, was in order.

"Tilly!"

o0O0o

"I don't believe this, I can't believe this! They expect us to trust them after what they... they almost did to my _son_ – _my_ _heir_!" The force of James' anger made the air tingle and the wards rumbled warningly readying themselves automatically for a threat.

Lily calmly held out the Draught laced tea to him. James pushed a hand through his perpetually messy hair and ignored her. She put down the cup of tea and folded her arms. James ignored her resolutely for a solid minute before he chanced a glance at her. On taking in her pursed lips, raised eyebrows and crossed arms, he sighed in defeat and took the proffered cup.

He relaxed visibly after his first gulp and then after taking a second sip, collapsed into a chair. Lily smiled. Her intimidation techniques worked perfectly every time. They had been married almost nine years, and still James couldn't resist her glare.

"Give it a few more years and I'll be able to do it, just you wait." James grumbled.

Lily grinned impishly, "Well, I've got to have my fun until then haven't I?"

A noise made her look up. A black haired head poked around the parlour door. It was followed by a sandy haired one. Then they withdrew and there was the sound of a hurried conference.  
Then,  
"Can we –"  
"Psst! No, its _may_. Remember?"  
"Oh yeah. Sorry. May we come in Mum? Dad?"

"Of course you may. And Neville, five points to Gryffindor for remembering that it's may and not can."

Looking at her son and godson, both just eight, brought back the intense worry and pain she had felt during the two Founders' visit. Even though the intensity had been reduced due to the Calming Draught, it hadn't totally erased the pain and fear she felt, and Lily suspected nothing could. A look at James told her he was going through the same ordeal, but his face was impressively impassive.  
He grinned at the two boys, though Lily noted his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"So how is it that you two are gracing us old farts with your presence today?" "JAMES!"  
"What Lils? Come on, 'fart' isn't even a bad word. They must be using it all the time! You can't scold me for language this time!"  
"Who said I was scolding you for language? I merely wanted to inform you that while yes, you _are_ old, _I_ however, am in the prime of my life and I do not appreciate you insinuating that I am old." Lily sniffed imperiously.

James' open mouth prompted the two boys to start giggling and that finally brought a true smile to her husband's face which had been precisely her intention. She smiled to herself as James pulled Harry into his lap and started tickling him mercilessly while Neville tried to rescue his squirming god-brother from his clutches.  
This is what made her so happy and grateful for the life she had. Despite all the worry, anxiety and fear that permeated their lives, it was for moments like these that she lived, and she wouldn't trade one instant of it.

o0O0o

James stared at the ceiling. He still hadn't gotten over the shock of the Founders action and its disastrous consequences. His rational self knew it hadn't been his son who had been affected but his imagination wouldn't stop running rampant. It kept supplying him with images of a broken Harry, an angry raging Harry, a Harry cackling like Voldemort, a Harry killing people... it was all too much.

He abruptly stood up and walked up to the window feeling restless. He stared out at the grounds lit up by the meagre light of the half moon. He looked at the beautiful flowers in their beds, maintained so lovingly by Sooky – their garden elf and helped along by Neville. He looked at the pond, dug one afternoon by Harry and Neville while being watched disapprovingly by Sooky. He looked at the greenhouse, installed for his godson when Neville had started spending almost all his day at the Manor. He looked at the small gazebo at the further end, where Lily and Augusta had tea in the evenings when the kids would be busy playing. He looked at the far off, barely visible, Quidditch hoops and recalled the evenings spent teaching the boys how to fly, how to play and how to do tricks. He looked at the tops of the trees of the woods beyond, remembering the full moon nights spent with Padfoot and Moony – his brothers in all but blood.  
Remembering his brothers, inevitably brought with it the ache of losing another, the thought of Wormtail – the long lost brother. Wormtail was dead and buried and the monster who walked around using his face and body was just that – a monster. The thought of Peter brought with it the unwanted thoughts of the war and brought him back to the thoughts and feelings he was so desperately trying to avoid.

Sighing gustily, he leaned his head on the window and stared out unseeing.  
A light touch on his shoulder brought him back to reality, and he turned to see his wife looking at him with her emerald eyes filled with compassion, understanding and a pain that he had so desperately wished to protect her from.  
He shifted and opened his arms. She moved into his embrace and leaned her head on his chest. He hugged her close and they stood at the window staring out.

No words were needed between them. An understanding and wistful silence enveloped them and they stood, silhouetted in the moonlight, staring out at the cruel world and wishing for something that they were too afraid to name.

**A/N: Hi guys! I originally wanted to post this chapter on Christmas Eve as a Christmas gift. But being me, I forgot and so am posting this now. You can still consider it as a late Christmas gift though. Or if you don't celebrate Christmas - as a gift for anything you want to celebrate. Life gives plenty of opportunities for celebration, so why not celebrate? :D**  
**Also, I am halfway done with the next, so hopefully you may get Chapter 19 as a New Year present. But again, no promises. Just a little hope. **

**One more thing, I recently found out I have read a lot of fanfiction over the past years and I just wanted to share a few of my favourites. So I am starting a little Recommendations sort of thing. Do tell me if you read the fics I recommend and if you like it. I love discussing stories/books/fanfiction/general fluff with people so I'll most probably make time for all your messages. So without further ado, my first recommendation for you guys - 'Innocent' by MarauderLover7.  
It is the first book in a series, with the first three books complete and the fourth in progress, with unfortunately, sporadic updates. (But who am I to complain huh?) The summary basically is that Sirius escapes from Azkaban when Harry is seven and rescues him from the Dursleys. It is a lovely character driven fic with absolutely amazingly defined characters and events. Also for Sirius fans - you are going to love him here! And sorry for the Dumbledore haters, but there is no bashing, though the lovely Sirius more than makes up for that, IMO.**

**Next, REVIEW REPLIES from chapter 17: ( I am trying to become more consistent, sorry for not replying to those who reviewed before, but I promise I'll start answering from now on. )**

**ZodiacsKlaroline: Well from Neville's character, I think it is quite apparent that there will be no Golden Trio - at least not like Harry, Hermione and Ron. Harry and Neville are brothers and that's not going to change. As for pairings, I have not decided on anything as for now. Its early days anyway with Harry and Nev not even being 11 as of yet. Also I have plans on including Daphne and Susan in their friend circle but I haven't really though that far yet. Regardless, suggestions are welcome!**

**atymer: Thank you being patient! I like bashing Dumbles as despite being a very revered character in canon, he made many many mistakes some of which were unforgivable. Like the Dursleys and Sirius for example. As for James, I'm hoping to make him (and all others for that matter) into realistic and believable characters. If given proper proof, I don't think even he could deny the obvious. **

**god of all: Thank you for your consistent support and approval. Special thanks for reviewing EVERY chapter so far! :D**

**Also I wanted to thank all of you for reading, following and favouriting this story. As for those who followed/favourited me, I am honored. Thank you so much. **

**Much love,  
blimey2310.**


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